Injection of antisense morpholino RNAs to the Met-3 start site of p120 catenin δ1 disrupts adhesion and causes cells to dissociate from the embryos giving only 12% survival to the 12-somite stage. (A) Injection of 8 -12 ng antisense MO to the 3rd AUG start site of p120 catenin δ1 (Met3-MO) causes a loss of adhesion and embryos disassociate from the yolk cell at 50%-epiboly. Animal pole towards top left. (B) Some embryos injected with 2 ng Met-3-MO imaged at the 1-somite stage slowly disintegrate as cells progressively de-adhere from the dorsal aspect of the embryos. Top-left embryo-dorsal left, anterior up; top-right embryo-ventral view, anterior up. (C) Other embryos injected with 2 ng Met-3-MO reaching the 7- to 9-somite stages have less distinct somite borders than uninjected controls and progressively loose dorsal cells. Top embryos: side views dorsal up, anterior left; Bottom embryos: ventral views, anterior up and toward center. (D) Magnification of Prim 6 stage embryos in side views show defects in the brain when treated with antisense Met-3-MO (8 ng). Scale bars in (B) and (C) are 200 μm.
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