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Fig. 1
Alpha-synuclein is moderately toxic to zebrafish sensory neurons between 2 and 3 dpf. (A) Transgenes to express GFP (WT) or aSyn-2A-GFP (aSyn) were injected into wild-type embryos at the one-cell stage. The CREST3 enhancer drove expression in peripheral sensory neurons. The Gal4-UAS system was used to amplify gene expression, and a viral 2A sequence was cloned between aSyn and GFP to generate two proteins from a single transcript. (B-D) Approximately 20% of aSyn-expressing neurons died between 2 and 3 days post-fertilization (dpf) (WT 3-dpf survival: 102.9±3.2%; aSyn: 81.7±4.4%; ne12 embryos, ***P=0.0010). Some cells newly expressed GFP during the imaging period (yellow arrowhead in C). Red arrowhead in D points to a cell that died between 2 and 3 dpf. Scale bars: 100 μm.