(A) Schematic of the FFSCFF chimera. (B) Images of living cortical neurons cotransfected with mRuby-Lifeact and either EGFP-labeled protein or chimera at 12 h postplating. (C–F) Quantification of stage 1 neurons comparing the effects of chimeric constructs on peripheral intensity (C), filopodia number (D), cell complexity (E), and tubule number (F) at 12 h postplating. FBP17S (n = 31 cells), FFSCFF (n = 30 cells), CIP4S (n = 24 cells), and CFSCCC (n = 37 cells). (G) Schematic of the CFSCCC chimera. (H) Images of cortical neurons cotransfected with mRuby-Lifeact and either EGFP-labeled protein or chimera at 12 h postplating. (I) Images of cortical neurons cotransfected with mRuby-Lifeact and either EGFP-labeled protein or chimeric deletion at 12 h postplating. (J–M) Quantification of stage 1 neurons comparing the effects of chimeric deletion constructs on peripheral intensity (J), filopodia number (K), cell complexity (L), and tubule number (M) 12 h postplating. CIP4S (n = 16 cells), CCSC-- (n = 25 cells), FFSC-- (n = 20 cells), and FFSF-- (n = 17 cells). One-way ANOVA with Kruskal–Wallis post-test multiple comparisons. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, and ****P < 0.0001; ns, not significant. Scale bars represent 5 µm in whole-cell images and 1 µm in insets.