Fig. 3

Cardiac and morphological defects in zebrafish larvae injected with HOMER2 mRNA. a Representative images of zebrafish larvae at 3 dpf displaying varying degrees of heart malformations. The larvae were categorized into four groups: normal, mild, and severe heart defects based on the degree of cardiac enlargement, and an additional group with general abnormal morphology. The categories include normal, mild, and severe heart defects, with red arrowheads marking the regions of cardiac deformity. Additionally, larvae with abnormal overall morphology are shown. b Bar graph illustrating the distribution of larvae with heart and morphological abnormalities in the different experimental groups: uninjected control, RFP control, HOMER2 WT, HOMER2 p.R345*, and HOMER2 p.R345Efs*64. Chi-squared analysis was used to compare the proportions of defects between groups, with significant differences indicated. (****p < 0.0001, ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05). n = 100 per group. dpf, days post-fertilization; RFP, red fluorescent protein; WT, wild-type; R, arginine; E, glutamate; fs, frameshift