Fig. 2.

Expression of mef2ca and mef2cb genes in zebrafish embryos. A) Estimation of absolute mef2ca and mef2cb transcripts by qRTPCR during D. rerio development. The graph shows transcript-specific absolute quantification, reported as log₂ copy number in equal amount of total RNA (2.5 ng) extracted from zebrafish embryos at 12, 24, 48 and 72 hpf. Graph showing mean ± SE from four independent experiments, ** and *** indicate P-values of ≤ 0.01 and ≤ 0.001 respectively. B) Wholemount in situ hybridization for mef2ca and mef2cb mRNA for embryos at 11 ss (dorsal view, anterior to top) and at 24 hpf (lateral view, anterior to left). At 11 ss, both genes are expressed in the adaxial cells (black arrowheads). By 24 hpf mef2ca is strongly expressed in the myotome (black arrows) and also in the heart (green arrowhead) and branchial arches (blue arrowhead). mef2cb transcripts are detected in the heart (green arrowhead), telencephalon (red arrowhead) and are weakly detected in the somites (black arrow). Scale bars = 100 μm.