Fig. 1. Deconstruction of the abdominal sensory system during early metamorphosis. Projected z-stacks of neurons labeled by C161-GAL4>CD8::GFP in the dorsal abdomen from (A) a wandering third instar larva (wL3). Neurons labeled include the dorsal multiple dendrite neuron (dmd), dorsal bipolar dendrite neuron (dbd) and five dorsal dendritic arborizing neurons (ddaD, ddaE, ddaF, ddaA and ddaB), those labeled in white survive. The inset shows merged projected z-stacks labeled with anti-Cut (magenta) and anti-CD8 (green) to allow identification of neurons. The sixth dorsal da neuron, ddaC is weakly labeled. Scale bar: 90 µm. (B) By 6 h APF the arbors of ddaF, ddaB and ddaA have largely disappeared (yellow arrow). The cell bodies of dead cells are found close to the nerve (yellow arrowhead). The dendrites of ddaD are still intact. Box denotes region imaged in Fig. 2A. Scale bar: 40 µm. (C) At 10 h APF ddaD shows signs of pruning. (D) At 16 h APF the higher order branches are gone and detached branches are found near the arbor (arrowhead). The proximal branch is thinning. (E) At 24 h APF only ddaD, ddaE and dbd remain. Note filopodia on pruning branches (white arrows). Dorsal is up and anterior to the left.