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. 2019 Aug 6;218(9):3098–3116. doi: 10.1083/jcb.201903124

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

BM type IV collagen supports the growing C. elegans pharynx and gonad. (A) Illustrations of C. elegans at various stages of development (scaled to the length of the egg), with the pharyngeal and gonadal BMs outlined in green and magenta, respectively. (B) 3D isosurface renderings of pharyngeal and gonadal type IV collagen::mCh at the early L1 versus young adult stages on the left, and quantification of surface area on the right. Bar graphs show mean surface area, and error bars represent standard error of the mean (n = 10 all stages). (C) DIC and collagen::mCh fluorescence images of 72-h adult pharynxes (top left) and 48-h young adult gonads (bottom left) of control (L4440 empty vector) and collagen IV α1 (emb-9) RNAi-treated animals. Pharynxes in DIC images (top left) are outlined with green dotted lines. The green arrowhead indicates a deformation in the anterior pharyngeal bulb, corresponding to a region with undetectable collagen::mCh signal. Mean pharyngeal BM collagen::mCh fluorescence intensity in control (n = 15) and emb-9 RNAi-treated (n = 14) 72-h adult animals are quantified on the top right. Dotted magenta lines outline gonads in DIC images (bottom left). The gonads of emb-9 RNAi-treated animals are severely misshapen, correlating with near-undetectable BM collagen::mCh signal. Mean gonadal BM collagen::mCh fluorescence intensity in control (n = 17) and emb-9 RNAi-treated (n = 19) early L3 animals are quantified on the bottom right. ***, P < 0.0001, unpaired two-tailed Student’s t test. Box edges in boxplots depict the 25th and 75th percentiles, the line in the box indicates the median value, and whiskers mark the minimum and maximum values. Scale bars, 10 µm. A.U., arbitrary units.