Fig. 2. Chchd2 is required for neuronal integrity.

a–c’ Chchd2^8-8 mutants showed reduced number of rhabdomeres in the retina of the aged flies (b’, indicated by the red arrow), which could be rescued by overexpression of the wild type Chchd2. d The bars indicated the percentage of ommatidia with indicated numbers of rhabdomeres in the animals with different genotypes. n = 38–71 ommatidia from 3 eyes of each genotype have been analyzed. e–g The numbers of TH neurons in the Chchd2^8-8 mutants were comparable to that of the wild type animals. Anti-TH staining (green) indicates the TH neurons in the 30 days old fly brains with indicated genotypes. The bar indicates 50 μm. g is the statistics of the TH neuron numbers in the indicated regions in wild type (WT) and Chchd2^8-8 mutants. n = 12–14 heads have been analyzed. The data were presented as mean + SEM. WT vs. Chchd2^8-8, PPM1 p = 0.9129, PPM2 p = 0.2319, PPM3 p = 0.0099, PPL1 p = 0.9358, PPL2c p = 0.2329. PPL2ab p = 0.6289. ns, non-significant, p > 0.0083, one way ANOVA with post hoc Bonferroni’s test. h–m’ Pink1 and park knock down (KD) enhanced the eye degeneration phenotypes in Chchd2^8-8 mutants. n and n’ The bars indicated the percentage of ommatidia with indicated numbers of rhabdomeres in the animals of different genotypes. n = 22-89 ommatidia from 3 eyes of each genotype have been analyzed.