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Fig. 1 | BMC Developmental Biology

Fig. 1

From: Apontic regulates somatic stem cell numbers in Drosophila testes

Fig. 1

Apontic expression is enriched in the testis apex. a Schematic of the adult Drosophila testis apex. 8-10 germline stem cells (GSCs, tan) adhere to the hub (light blue circles) and divide asymmetrically to self-renew and generate a differentiated daughter, the gonialblast. Cell division with incomplete cytokinesis produces 2, 4, 8, and 16 (not drawn) cell-cluster spermatogonia. A pair of somatic cyst stem cells (CySCs, green) associates with each GSC, dividing asymmetrically to produce non-mitotic cyst cells (light green), which grow and encase the developing germ cell. Red indicates the fusome, which is a small sphere (dot) in GSCs and gonialblasts but is branched in spermatogonium. Blue gradient behind the hub and triangle below schematic represents STAT activity: the highest level of STAT signaling (dark blue) is found in cells adjacent to the hub, and it decreases distally (light blue to white). b Schematic of the PTTapt CC01186 P-element insertion within the apt RA transcript (boxes represent exons, black line indicates introns). Green triangle illustrates P-element insertion site of the GFP protein trap (PTT-apt) at genome region 23,586,285, in which gfp can be spliced into the apt mRNA to generate a full-length Apt protein fused to GFP. c-d Single optical section through the testis apex of males of the specified genotypes, fluorescently stained with denoted antibodies. Arrows indicate germline cells, arrowheads CySCs, the hub perimeter is outlined in blue, and the testis tip is outlined in white. Scale bars = 10 μm. c PTTapt CC01186 protein-trap line reveals Apt expression (Apt-GFP, white). Traffic Jam (Tj, magenta) co-localization indicates that Apt is expressed in the somatic lineage (hub, CySCs, and mature cyst cells), as well as in GSCs and gonialblasts (Tj-negative, Apt-GFP+). DAPI (blue) stains nuclei. PC - pigment cell. Inset displays Apt reporter expression alone. d A testis from a Canton S male stained with an antibody directed against Apt. Apt (magenta) is expressed in the soma (co-labeled by Tj expression, green) and GSCs, and at a lower level in gonialblasts, further from the hub. Inset shows Apt staining alone

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