Fig. 2. Expansion of boundary marker gene expression domains in Wnt pathway
knockdowns. Markers are indicated at the top right of each panel. (A-F)
Time-course of the effect of wnt1 morpholino (MO) on rfng
expression. No difference between uninjected (uninj) and wnt1 MO
embryos is detected at 18 hours (13/14 embryos; A,B), but by 19.5 hours, the
rfng expression domain is expanded in wnt1 MO-injected
embryos (11/11 embryos; C,D). Expanded rfng and foxb1.2
(fox) boundary expression is detected in wnt1 MO embryos at
26 hours (14/14 embryos; E-H). Arrowheads in G indicate the boundary
expression domain of foxb1.2; brackets in H indicate expansion of
this domain in wnt1 MO embryos. Ectopic boundary marker expression
does not occur in r4. (I-L) Effect of rfng (30/38 embryos; I,J) and
tcf3b (48/54 embryos; K,L) knockdown on expression of boundary
markers, as indicated. Brackets in J and L indicate the expanded boundary
domain of foxb1.2 expression (compare with G). (M-Q) Regulation of
cell proliferation by Wnt1. (M,N) Double labelling with rfng (blue
signal) and anti-phosphohistone H3 (brown signal) in uninjected and
wnt1 MO-injected embryos at 19 hours. (O,P) cyclinD1 is
expressed at high levels in hindbrain boundaries at 24 hours in uninjected
embryos but not in wnt1 MO-injected embryos. (Q) Graph of mitotic
index in boundary cells (rfng expressing) and non-boundary cells in
uninjected and wnt1 MO 19-hour embryos. This was calculated by
counting the total number of cells and the number of mitotic cells in the
hindbrain of uninjected (n=14 embryos) and wnt1 MO-injected
embryos (n=24). The total cell number in the hindbrain of
wnt1 MO embryos is 84% of that of uninjected embryos. In
wnt1 MO embryos the mitotic index was decreased by 42% in boundary
regions and 30% in non-boundary regions. Scale bar: 100 µm.