Figure 6.

AFM-based quantification of eggshell-surface mechanical parameters in the presence or absence of s38 protein. (A,B) Typical approach (blue) and retraction (red) force-distance curves of a representative (A) control (c355-GAL4/+) and (B) s38-targeted (c355 > s38_RNAi) laid egg. (C,D) Bar-charts presenting the mean values of (C) adhesion force and (D) Young’s modulus of control and s38-downregulated laid eggs. (E) AFM-dependent average RMS roughness of masked control (red bar), unmasked control (green bar) and s38-targeted (blue bar) laid eggs. (F) Inclination distribution ρ for angles θ from 0 to 90° in AFM images. (G) Schematic layout displaying the angle θ between the z axis and the unit-vector $\overrightarrow{n}$ of one pixel, at the point O. Number of eggs examined: control = 8, s38-downregulated = 14. s: sample. *p < 0.05.