Fig. 4

The vinculin-binding domain is essential for proper body axis elongation. (A) DIC images from a time-lapse image series of embryos injected with 0.84 ng ctnna1 MO (top) rescued with 250 pg α-catenin-GFP (bottom). Embryos were imaged from 80% epiboly until 21 somite stage. (B,D) Quantification of the mortality (B) and the body axis phenotype (D) of non-injected embryos, embryos injected with 0.56 ng ctnna1 MO or ctnna1 MO-injected embryos rescued with either 250 pg α-catenin-GFP or 250 pg α-catenin-ΔVBS-GFP. Data represents three independent experiments, n>70 embryos per condition. Data is represented as the mean±s.e.m. (C) Representative images of non-injected control embryos (left) and ctnna1 MO-injected embryos rescued with α-catenin-GFP or α-catenin-ΔVBS-GFP at 24 hpf. Clear morphological differences between α-catenin-GFP and α-catenin-ΔVBS-GFP-rescued embryos were apparent in anterior-posterior axis extension (top) as well as in the mediolateral dorsal convergence (middle and bottom). Red lines indicate the width of the dorsal body embryonic structure.