Fig. 2. slb prechordal plate progenitors migrate individually with
increased motility and reduced cohesion when Mil function is compromised.
(A-I) Time-lapse analysis and tracking of cell movement in migrating
prechordal plate progenitors of WT embryos (A-C), slb embryos (D-F)
and slb embryos injected with 4.3 ng mil-MO (G-I). Five
cells were randomly chosen from each embryo, highlighted in different colours
and tracked by merging each starting point to 0 (C,F,I). Twenty-five cells in
total were accumulated from five independent experiments, to analyze for
speed, persistence and coherence (J). In slb embryos, cell motility
was significantly reduced (D-F). In slb embryos injected with
mil-MO, the cells showed increased motility, and the cluster of cells
appeared to be less coherent (G-I); the cells occasionally popped out from the
cluster and travelled individually (H,I, asterisk). Such cell behaviour was
never observed in WT embryos. (J) Summary of analysis of parameters:
speed, persistence and coherence. Statistically significant differences are
indicated (#P<0.05,
##P<0.005).