Identification, Characterization, and Effects of Xenopus laevis PNAS-4 Gene on Embryonic Development

Figure 3

Developmental defects in Xenopus embryos caused by microinjection of xPNAS-4. Embryos were injected once into the dorsal marginal zone at the one-cell stage with 450 pg or 900 pg of xPNAS-4 mRNA. (a) Lateral view of stage 35 tadpoles showing (bottom to top) an unaffected embryo (Wt, bottom); a mildly affected embryo (Lae, middle) and a strongly affected embryo (Sae, upper). Arrows indicate embryos’ eyes. (b), (c), and (d) are magnified views from local regions in the pictures. Abbreviations: Wt, wild type; Lae, mildly affected embryo; Sae, strongly affected embryo; My, myotome; Pi, pigment. (e) Dorsal view of an uninjected stage 43 embryo. (f) Dorsal view of stage 43 embryo which was injected with 900 pg of xPNAS-4 mRNA. (g) Graphical representation of the percent of embryos injected with xPNAS-4 mRNA with the small eye phenotype at stage 35 (𝑛 = the number of embryos in each group).