Fig. 5.

Dmac-prd and -slp double RNAi produces asegmental embryos. (A,B) Significantly shortened unhatched larvae after Dmac-prd, -slp double pRNAi. Only antenna and labrum are visible. No gnathal appendages or legs are present. (C) No striped-like En expression is detected in elongated germband in a severely affected embryo. (D) Moderately affected embryo shows reduced En expression. Reduction is more obvious for even-numbered En stripes (asterisks). (C′,D′) SYTOX Green staining of embryos in C and D for visualization of embryo morphology. Note that there are no obvious segmental grooves (C′) or fused adjacent segments (D′), indicating overt lack of segmentation or milder segmentation defects, respectively. (E) Striped En expression at the posterior border of each segment in control embryos. (F) Only residual En expression is detected along the midline after double knockdown. (E′,F′) SYTOX Green staining of embryos in E and F for visualization of embryo morphology. (G,H) Dcp-1 antibody staining for apoptosis at elongated germband stage (G) and in a later stage embryo (H). There is almost uniform apoptosis signal in the elongated germband (G). Note that we previously observed stronger effects for Dmac-prd using eRNAi than pRNAi (Xiang et al., 2015). Scale bars: 500 µm.