Fig 4. The duration of inactive egg-laying periods is reduced with combined deletion of nlp-7 and flp-11.

(A) Temporal analysis of egg-laying behavior. Tick marks indicate single egg-laying events. Representative data from one animal of each genotype is shown. (B) Histograms of intervals between egg-laying events. Intervals are plotted on a natural log scale on the x-axis and their relative frequencies are plotted on the y-axis. Red indicates intracluster intervals (<300 s) and blue indicates intercluster intervals (>300 s). Dashed lines indicate curve fit to Gaussian distribution. Mean intracluster and intercluster intervals for each genotype were calculated from the curve fit (wild type: 5.8 ± 1 s and 18.0 ± 0.02 mins; nlp-7(lf): 4.8 ± 1 s and 17.3 ± 0.02 mins; flp-11(lf): 4.1 ± 1 s and 21.4 ± 0.02 mins; nlp-7(lf);flp-11(lf): 5.2 ± 1 s and 11.5 ± 0.02 mins). wild type: n1 = 144, n2 = 42; nlp-7(lf): n1 = 93, n2 = 30; flp-11(lf): n1 = 113, n2 = 32; nlp-7(lf);flp-11(lf): n1 = 114, n2 = 54. n1 = number of intracluster intervals (<300 s), n2 = number of intercluster intervals (>300 s). ***p<0.001, *p<0.05, Kruskal Wallis test with Dunn’s multiple comparisons test. The average intercluster interval (inactive phase) is significantly shortened in nlp-7;flp-11 double mutants and egg-laying occurs at earlier developmental stages compared with wild type. These effects are rescued by uv1-specific expression of either nlp-7 or flp-11 (see S3 Fig).