Figure 2.

Morphological and Cytoskeletal Analysis of Three Groups of da Neurons from the Fruit Fly Larva

Distributions of dendritic length (A and D), microtubule (B and E), and F-actin (C and F) is examined as functions of path distance from soma (A–C) and Strahler order (D–F) for class I (green), class IV (blue), and mutant Class IV (red) neurons. Here, dendritic length (in Y axis) represents the total sum of dendrite length within each 40-μm path distance bin and at each Strahler order for every neuron and then averaged across neurons in each group. Similar to length, microtubule and F-actin quantities (computed as a product of signal intensity by compartment thickness: see Transparent Methods for details) are summed for each path distance bin and Strahler order and then averaged across neurons within each group. In (B), (C), (E), and (F), the Y axes were scaled so as to obtain unitary area under the curve for class IV WT (blue lines), i.e., all cytoskeletal quantities in these four plots are represented relative to class IV WT. Average microtubule and F-act quantities (per unit length) for each Strahler order and from each path distance bin are calculated by dividing the total values from (B) and (C) by the corresponding values from (A) and by dividing the total values from (E) and (F) by the corresponding values from (D). Average microtubule (G) and F-actin (H) quantities are also reported per unit of length (μm), i.e., total MT or F-actin in a neuron is divided by the total length (in μm) of that neuron. Computed values from individual neurons are then averaged across all neurons within a group. Error bars indicate standard deviation within groups. See also Figures S3 and S10 and Tables S1–S3.