Knockout of <i>bcl-7</i> affects gonadal development and germ cell proliferation in <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i>.

<p><b>A–C</b>: A dissected adult germline of a wild-type adult hermaphrodite. A dissected gonad stained with DAPI (blue) and an anti-PH3 antibody (pink) as a mitotic cell-specific marker (<b>A</b>), and the regions of mitosis (<b>B</b>) and meiosis (<b>C</b>) of the gonad stained with DAPI. The arrowhead indicates a distal tip cell (DTC). The white arrows indicate the corresponding position of the gonad. <b>D–F</b>: A dissected germline of a <i>tm5268</i> adult hermaphrodite. A dissected gonad stained with DAPI (blue) and an anti-PH3 antibody (pink) as a mitotic cell-specific marker (D), and the regions of mitosis (<b>E</b>) and meiosis (<b>F</b>) of the gonad stained with DAPI. The arrowhead indicates a DTC. The white circles indicate the corresponding position of the gonad. <b>G–I</b>: A dissected germline of a <i>tm5268;tmEx2966</i> adult hermaphrodite. A dissected gonad stained with DAPI (blue) and an anti-PH3 antibody (pink) as a mitotic cell-specific marker (G), and the regions of mitosis (<b>H</b>) and meiosis (<b>I</b>) of the gonad stained with DAPI. The arrowhead indicates a DTC. The white rhomboid indicates the corresponding position of the gonad. <b>J–L</b>: A dissected germline of a <i>tm5268;tmEx3873</i> adult hermaphrodite carrying <i>Plag-2::bcl-7::egfp</i> as a DTC-specific rescue construct. A dissected gonad stained with DAPI (blue) (<b>J</b>), and the regions of mitosis (<b>K</b>) and meiosis (<b>L</b>) of the gonad stained with DAPI. The arrowhead indicates a DTC. The white squares indicate the corresponding position of the gonad. <b>M</b>: Bar chart indicating the brood size in wild-type, heterozygous and homozygous <i>bcl-7</i> mutants, and transgenic rescue lines. The extrachromosomal array <i>tmEx3875</i> contains <i>pTE5::bcl-7::egfp</i> as a germ cell-specific rescue construct, <i>tmEx4116</i> contains <i>lim-7::bcl-7::egfp</i> as a gonadal sheath cell-specific rescue construct, and <i>tmEx4121</i> contains both <i>Plag-2::bcl-7::egfp</i> and <i>lim-7::bcl-7::egfp</i>. Error bars indicate SEM. Asterisks indicate statistical significance. *p<0.05, **p<0.005, ***p<0.001. N.S.: no significance. Scale bar = 25 µm.