The lncRNA male-specific abdominal plays a critical role in Drosophila accessory gland development and male fertility
Fig 4
Loss of the iab-8 miRNA and/or Abd-B leads to defects in vacuole formation.
Accessory glands are shown from three to four-day old virgin males that express the Abd-Gal4, UAS-GFP reporter and carry the following mutations: A. iab-6cocuD1/+ (control), B. iab-6cocuD1/ iab-6cocuD1(MSA-, Abd-B-), C. iab-6cocuD1/ΔmiR-iab-8 (miRNAiab-8-) and D. iab-6cocuD1/Abd-BD16 (Abd-B-). Below panels A.-D. are the median and mean vacuole sizes for each genotype along with the standard deviation for the mean vacuole size and the number of vacuoles measured (n). Based on Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance, followed by post-hoc Dunn’s tests, the differences in values is significant between all groups (p < .0001 for all pairwise comparisons except iab-6cocuD1 homozygotes vs iab-6cocuD1/miR-iab-8 mutants, where p = .0085. Figures E. and F. show AGs stained with antibodies to ABD-B (green), imaged using the same settings. In F., the AG is from iab-6cocuD1/Abd-BD16 males (where Abd-B should not be expressed), and in E. the AG is from a sibling control of the cross, iab-6cocuD1/Dp(P5) (where two wild-type copies of Abd-B should be expressed). An enlargement of a single secondary cell is present in each panel to show the difference in Abd-B expression level in the two lines. Scale bars = 25μm for A.-D., and = 50μm for E. and F.