Pdgfra is expressed in the midline during cardiac
assembly. Representative photomicrographs of whole-mount
in situ hybridization using
pdgfra and mRFP riboprobes at
20 hpf (A-F). In +/+ (A) and
+/− (B) embryos expression of
pdgfra is observed in different tissues,
including the developing cranial ganglia (arrow head), anterior
lateral plate mesoderm (ALPM) (arrow), optic cup (cross), and the
midline (asterisk, also in panels E and F). No specific
pdgfra expression is detected in
−/− embryos (C). Expression of
mRFP is not detected in
+/+ embryos (D). On the other hand,
mRFP expression in +/− (E)
and −/− (F) embryos is similar to
pdgfra expression. Representative images of
20 hpf live GBT1300 siblings carrying a
Tg(cmlc2:EGFP) transgene (G-L). No Pdgfra-mRFP
expression is observed in +/+ embryos (G). On
the other hand, +/− (H) and
−/− (I) siblings show Pdgfra-mRFP expression
similar to the mRNA expression data, including midline expression
where cardiac assembly occurs (asterisk). Complete cardiac fusion is
observed in +/+ (J) and
+/− (K) embryos, while homozygous mutants
demonstrated cardiac fusion only at the posterior end (L). Dorsal
views are shown, with the fish cranium on the left. Scale bar:
75 μm (A-F) and 250 μm (G-L).