Fig. 3. smedinx-11(RNAi) phenotype. (A) Early phenotype: lack of regeneration. Regenerating fragments at 7 days post-amputation; control animal (left) formed AP blastemas (lightly pigmented new tissue indicated with white arrows), whereas smedinx-11(RNAi) fragments failed to create new tissue (30/30) even at 3 weeks post-amputation (red dotted lines represent plane of amputation, animals were amputated 8 days after first injection). (B) Late phenotype. Intact animals; control (left) and smedinx-11(RNAi) representative images show progression of the phenotype. Top scale indicates days after first injection of smedinx-11 dsRNA. Initial signs of the phenotype are visible 2 weeks after first injection and were characterized by a contraction of the pre-pharyngeal region (white arrows at 14 days). At 21 days, the lateral and posterior edges of the worms curled under ventrally (white arrows) (50/50). Unlike irradiated, smedwi-2(RNAi) or smedbruli(RNAi) worms, animals with the smedinx-11(RNAi) phenotype do not develop head regression even 1 month after first exposure to smedinx-11 dsRNA (13/15 worms, yellow arrow at the front of the animal at 31 days). Simultaneous smedinx-11 + smedinx-2 double-knockdown phenotype in both intact and regenerating fragments did not show differences when compared to smedinx-11(RNAi) alone (data not shown). All animals died 35-40 days after first injection. In all cases, anterior end is up. Scale bars: 0.2 mm.