FIGURE 1:

Loss of SPV-1 alters calcium signaling in the spermatheca. (A) An adult nematode with labeled spermathecae, showing one with an embryo inside (left) and one without an embryo inside (right). Scale bars: 100 μm (large image); 10 μm (insets). (B) Tissue-level schematic cartoon of the spermatheca. The spermatheca consists of three distinct regions: the cells closest to the sheath form a neck, or distal valve, that constricts to enclose the newly entered embryo, the central cells form a bag that accommodates the embryo during fertilization and egg shell deposition, and the spermatheca and uterus are connected by the sp-ut valve. (C) Still frames from GCaMP movies of embryo transits in wild-type (WT) (top) and spv-1(ok1498) (bottom) animals. Movies were temporally aligned to the start of oocyte entry at 50 s. (D) GCaMP time series generated from GCaMP movies (Supplemental Movie 1), with metrics highlighted. Dwell time is a tissue function metric calculated as the time from the closing of the distal valve to the opening of the sp-ut valve; rising time is a calcium signaling metric measuring the time from the opening of the distal valve to the first time point where the time series reaches half its maximum; and fraction over half max is a calcium signaling metric measuring how much of the dwell time is spent over the half maximum. Bottom panels show heat maps of five time series for each condition. The top line of the heat map is the time series in the top panel. (E) Quantification of metrics from time series. Error bars display SD, and p values were calculated using Welch’s t test: **, p < 0.01; ****, p < 0.0001.