Figure 4.

Sex-specific proteome and maternally loaded proteins. (A) Volcano plot comparing protein expression levels between 1-wk-old male and female flies. Candidates discussed in the text are highlighted (filled black circles). Dashed lines indicate a fourfold expression difference with P < 0.01. (B) Volcano plot comparing protein expression levels between young male and female flies (<4 h old after eclosure) shows very few female-specific proteins. Candidates discussed in the text are highlighted (filled black circles). Dashed lines indicate a fourfold expression difference with P < 0.01. (C) Developmental expression profile of the female-specific protein CG31862 shows detection of mRNA (dotted line) in late pupal stage, while the protein (solid line) is also found in female flies. (D) Integration of mRNA levels with embryo-specific proteins allows identifying maternally loaded proteins. The mRNA levels of the adult female flies compared to embryos (x-axis) and males (y-axis) distinguishes cases in which either both the mRNA and protein (x = 0, y > 2), or only the protein (darker shaded area) is maternally loaded. (E) Relative embryonic hatching rate (four biological replicates) of CG17018 knockdown embryos compared to wild type. (F) Image of representative wild type and the CG17018 knockdown embryo with fused dorsal appendages. (G) Cuticle preparation of embryos revealed absence of denticle belts patterning in the CG17018 knockdown line.