Fig. 3. Shot associates with E-cadherin and is required for adherens junction
development in selected cell types. Anterior, leftwards; dorsal, upwards.
E-cadherin, red; Shot, green. (A-C) Dorsal trunk tracheal cells in a stage 14
wild-type embryo form adherens junctions associated with Shot. (A) E-cadherin
forms a web of junctions that gird the apical surfaces of tracheal cells,
joined at segment boundaries (arrowhead). Scale bar: 10 µm in A-C. (B) Shot
concentrates at adherens junctions. (C) Merge of A and B. (D-F) Lateral
chordotonal (lch) neurons form highly organized adherens junctions with
support cells. (D) In a stage 15 wild-type embryo, E-cadherin clusters in two
rows of adherens junctions (arrowheads) formed by support cells contacting
chordotonal dendrites. The arrow indicates neuronal cell bodies, which do not
express E-cadherin. Scale bar: 10 µm in D-L. (E) Shot colocalizes with
E-cadherin in the dorsalmost set of adherens junctions associated with lch
neurons. (F) Merge of D and E. (G-I) Shot does not appreciably colocalize with
epidermal adherens junctions. (G) Cadherin distribution at the dorsal midline
(long arrow) of a stage 15 wild-type embryo. This section is taken 1 µm
below the section where most E-cadherin is observed, and 1 mm above where most
Shot can be detected. (H) Shot distribution in the same optical section. Shot
is relatively diffuse, except in spots where it colocalizes with E-cadherin
(short arrows). (I) Merge of G and H. E-cadherin and Shot overlap weakly.
(J-L) E-cadherin and Shot distribution in shot3 null
mutant embryos. (J) Cells in the dorsal tracheal trunk of a stage 14
shot3 mutant embryo. The branches fail to fuse at the
segment boundary (arrowhead), and Shot is absent in all cells. E-cadherin
appears normal in tracheal cells other than fusion cells. (K) E-cadherin
contacts with chordotonal neurons in a stage 15 shot3
mutant embryo are abnormally organized and shaped. (L) E-cadherin contacts
between epidermal cells appear normal at the dorsal midline (long arrow) in a
stage 15 shot3 mutant embryo, including stereotyped spots
where it colocalizes with E-cadherin (short arrows).