Fig. 8. gli2 MO injection rescues nk2.2 and myoD
expression defects in yot/gli2 mutants and reveals a weak activator
role for Gli2. (A) gli2 MO injection expands ptc1 expression
ventrally in the diencephalon (arrowheads) and causes a minor but consistent
overall expansion of ptc1 expression (compare to inset). (B)
yot/gli2 mutants have significantly reduced ptc1 expression.
(C) gli2MO injections rescue the ptc1 defects seen in
yot/gli2 mutants and expand ptc1 expression ventrally
(arrowhead). (D) Injection of gli2MOs into wild-type embryos has no
effect on nk2.2 expression. (E,F) Injection of a gli2MOs
into yot/mutant embryos can completely
rescue yot-induced defects in nk2.2 expression (compare
arrows). (G) gli2MO injection does not affect myoD
expression in adaxial cells (arrowheads). (H,I) gli2MO injections
partially rescue yot-induced defects in adaxial myoD
expression (compare arrowheads). (J-M) Injection of 3-10 ng of gli2MO
into embryos from a cross between dtr/+heterozygous
parents (25% dtr/mutants expected) resulted
in an additional loss of nk2.2 expression in the tegmentum (compare
arrows in J,K) and a reduction in adaxial myoD expression (compare arrowheads
in L,M) in 60/206 embryos (29%), all of which were
dtr/mutants as judged by forebrain and
hindbrain nk2.2 expression defects. This suggests Gli2 may activate
Hh signaling in a small area of the ventral midbrain and in adaxial cells.
Control MO injections had no effect on nk2.2 expression in 85/85
embryos from a similar dtr/+x
dtr/+cross, with 25 embryos (29%) showing the
dtr/nk2.2 defects (J) and 60
embryos (71%) showing wild-type nk2.2 expression as expected for
dtr/+ and dtr+/+embryos.
(A-F,J, and K) are lateral views of the head, eyes removed. (G-I,L, and M) are
dorsal views of the tail region. All embryos are at the 20 somite (19 hour)
stage. For yot/gli2, embryo genotypes were inferred by myoD
expression in adaxial cells, then were verified by PCR (not shown, see
Materials and Methods). D and G, E and H, F and I, J and L and K and M show
the same individual labeled simultaneously with nk2.2 and
myoD.