Figure 8.

Artificial recruitment of Pericardin affects muscle function. A, ectopic expression of full-length Loh in muscles (mef2-Gal4 × UAS Loh FL; green triangles) significantly impairs crawling performance. As controls, F1 animals from either a crossing of mef2-Gal4 × w¹¹¹⁸ (red squares) or from w¹¹¹⁸ × UAS-Loh FL (blue diamonds) were used. Crawling performance was measured as crawling distance in cm/contraction (A) or crawling distance/10 s (A′). Crawling performance is significantly reduced if Pericardin is recruited to the muscle ECM (green triangles in A and A′). The contraction frequency is not significantly altered in corresponding animals (A″). Ectopic expression of full-length Loh (mef2-Gal4 × UAS Loh FL; green triangles) has no effect on lifespan, compared with controls (mef2-Gal4 × w¹¹¹⁸ (red squares) and w¹¹¹⁸ × UAS Loh FL (blue diamonds)) (B). Depicted are mean values ± S.D. (error bars). Corresponding significance levels are indicated (asterisks, Student's t test; *, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.01; n.s., not significant). Data are presented as box plots and scatter plots.