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Figure 5 | BMC Biology

Figure 5

From: Distinct adhesion-independent functions of β-catenin control stage-specific sensory neurogenesis and proliferation

Figure 5

Development of the dorsal root ganglia does not depend on structural function of cadherin-mediated adherens junctions. (A’-A”’) Scheme representing functional properties of Cre-recombined cells in control and αcat-Adh and αcat-Adh βcat-Sig mutant animals. (A’) β-catenin (green) of control animals induces transcription (green arrow) by binding with TCF/Lef (orange) and recruiting co-transcription factors (purple). Furthermore, it links transmembrane cadherins via α-catenin (yellow) to the actin cytoskeleton (dotted line). (A”) The loss of α-catenin prevents binding of cadherin to the actin cytoskeleton. (A”’) In αcat-Adh βcat-Sig animals, the β-catenin-dm inhibits TCF/Lef-mediated transcription. Furthermore, the loss of α-catenin leads to an absence of cadherin-mediated adhesion. (B) Illustration of a transverse section at E10.5 displaying DRG progenitor cells in red. Green box represents caption area for subfigures C-G. (C-E) Double immunohistochemistry for Neurog1 and β-gal expressed by the R26R reporter. (C’-E’) Expression of Neurog1 is maintained in both mutant animals. (F-G) Immunofluorescent staining for Sox10 and detection of a one hour EdU pulse. (F’-G’) EdU incorporation of Sox10-positive DRG progenitor cells is preserved in αcat-adh R26R embryos. (H) Quantification of Neurog1-positive cells per DRG show no significant differences between control, αcat-Adh R26R, and αcat-Adh βcat-Sig R26R mutants. (I) Percentages of EdU-positive cells in the Sox10-positive population display no significant reduction of EdU incorporation in αcat-Adh R26R animals. (J) Illustration of a transverse section at E11.5 displaying DRG in red. Green box represents caption area for subfigures K-M. (K-M) Double immunohistochemistry for β-gal expressed from the R26R reporter and junction plakoglobin (JUP) shows the same expression density of JUP in β-catenin mutant animals as in control animals. (K’- M’), corresponding single fluorescence channels of the sections shown in K, L, and M, respectively. Dashed lines frame in vivo fate-mapped cells. NT, neural tube; Scale bars: 25 μm. DRG, dorsal root ganglia; E, embryonic day; EdU, 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine.

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