Figure 2. Auxin-inducible gene expression system (AGES) effectively induces GAL4 activity in Drosophila adults.
(A) Ventral images of live females that express GAL4 in fat body tissue. Ingestion of food containing auxin (≥5 mM for 24 hr) induces GAL4 activity and the expression of GFP. (B) Quantification of GFP levels. Pixel intensity thresholding was performed to isolate abdomens as regions of interest. The average pixel intensities from six replicates were quantified and analysed using Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn pair-wise comparison (***, p < 0.001 and **, p < 0.01). (C) Quantitative PCR (qPCR) data for GFP mRNA levels using different concentrations of auxin (three biological replicates). Values were normalised to housekeeping gene RpL4 (Ribosomal Protein L4) and relative expression levels (compared to the negative control) were calculated using the ΔΔCt method. Y-axis displaying ΔΔCt values and statistics done using Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn pair-wise comparison (*, p < 0.05). See Figure 2—source data 1 for raw data.