Figure 5.
Knockdown of ron-2 delays embryonic skeletal mineralization in zebrafish and phenocopies the msp mutant phenotype. A) Alizarin red and Alcian blue skeletal staining of zebrafish morphants. Variation of the morphant phenotype is observed at 6 dpf and can be classified into a strong phenotype, a weak phenotype, and a wild-type phenotype. B) Bar graphs represent the percentage of embryos at 6 dpf, which develop a wild-type phenotype (black), a weak phenotype (gray) or a strong phenotype (white). Injection of 32 ng MOron2-ATG (average of 3 independent experiments, n=42, n=11, n=45) significantly delayed embryonic skeletal mineralization when compared to the uninjected control (uic, n=60 for each experiment; P<0.001 by χ2 test). Injection of 16 ng MOron2-UTR (n=73) also inhibited bone formation when compared to the uic (P<0.001; χ2 test).