Fig. 4
Vrtn overexpression produces dorsalisation and suppresses BMP signalling. (A) Dorsalised embryos at 12 and 24 hpf following Vrtn overexpression. (B) Statistical analysis of Vrtn-dorsalised embryos at 24 hpf. Numbers at the top indicate the total embryos from three independent experiments. (C) Early effects of Vrtn overexpression. The expression patterns of dha/boz and gsc remain unchanged at the sphere stage, and gata2a expression at 70% epiboly and P-Smad1/5/8 level at 60% epiboly are suppressed. The marginal transcription of bmp2b is inhibited at 50% epiboly, and scattered I-YSL expression of bmp2b is present at 70% epibloy. (D-G) Analysis by qRT-PCR of the expression level of dha/boz, gsc, gata2a and bmp2b in Vrtn-overexpressing embryos. The relative expression level in uninjected embryos is normalised as 1; data are mean values±s.d. from four independent experiments. (H) Statistical analysis of the synergistic effect between VAb@2cell and Vrtn overexpression. Numbers at the top indicate the total number of embryos from two independent experiments. Scale bars: 250 µm.