Figure 4.

FAK interacts genetically with adipocyte collagen IV to regulate GSC numbers. (A) RT-PCR of Fak in w¹¹¹⁸ or Fak^KG00304 homozygous females showing that the Fak^KG00304 hypomorphic allele has reduced levels of Fak mRNA expression. Rp49 is used as a control. Normalized band intensities are indicated. (B) Frequencies of germaria containing zero-or-one, two, three, or four-or-more GSCs at 1 and 10 days of adipocyte-specific RNAi against Luc (control) or vkg RNAi in females carrying one copy of Fak^KG000304 compared to their balancer sibling controls without Fak^KG000304. The average number of GSCs per germarium is plotted in green. (C and D) Frequencies of germaria containing zero-or-one, two, three, or four-or-more GSCs in newly eclosed (0d) and 10-day-old (10d) double heterozygous dpp^e87 +/+ vkg⁰¹²⁰⁹, vkg⁰¹²⁰⁹ +/+ scb², or vkg⁰¹²⁰⁹ +/+ shg² females compared to their balancer sibling (single heterozygous) controls are shown on the left y-axis. The right y-axis shows the average number of GSCs per germarium. The number of germaria analyzed is shown inside bars. Mean $\pm$ SEM. * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, and **** P < 0.0001, two-way ANOVA with interaction. FAK, focal adhesion kinase; GSC, germline stem cell; n.s., difference in slopes not statistically significant; RNAi, RNA interference.