Skin clones show diminished ability to rescue melanocytes in xanthophores stripe regions of the regenerate.

<p>A-A’. Dermal fibroblasts strongly rescue melanocytes irrespective of where the clone occurs in the fin. B-C. Skin clones within the melanocyte stripe (B-B’) show more robust melanocyte rescue than skin clones that occur in a xanthophores stripe (C-C’). D. Dermal fibroblast, osteoblast, and skin clones were scored for the quality of melanocyte regeneration relative to their occurrence in a presumptive melanocyte stripe or xanthophore stripe. A single clone (as summarized in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0102317#pone-0102317-g004" target="_blank">figure 4</a>) may be scored as two clones if it occurs in both a xanthophore and melanocyte stripe region. Only skin clones showed a statistically significant difference in strength of rescue relative to the region in which the clone was regenerated (chi-squared 3×2 test, p value = 0.035.) Red dashed lines indicate the amputation plane. Grey arrowheads indicate newly differentiated <i>kit</i>-dependent melanocytes. Black arrowheads indicate previously differentiated <i>kit</i>-independent melanocytes. Scale bar = 250 mm.