<i>ppm-2</i> regulates axon termination of PLM neurons.

<p>(<i>A</i>) Schematic diagram of the <i>ppm-2</i> open reading frame. Exons are shown with grey boxes and introns as lines. Deletions generated by <i>ok2186</i> and <i>tm3480</i> are shown below. (<i>B</i>) Schematic diagram of the PPM-2 protein. Conserved residues that are required for catalytic activity are highlighted. Protein sequence deleted by <i>ok2186</i> and <i>tm3480</i> are shown below. (<i>C and D</i>) Defects in axon termination of the PLM mechanosensory neurons were visualized using <i>muIs32</i> (P<i>_mec-7</i>GFP). (<i>C</i>) Upper panel is a schematic diagram showing the mechanosensory neurons of <i>C. elegans</i> (modified from Worm Atlas). The blue box highlights the region shown below that was visualized using epifluorescent microscopy. An example of a PLM axon that overextends and hooks (hook) is shown for both <i>ppm-2(ok2186)-/-</i> and <i>rpm-1-/-</i> genotypes (arrowheads). Scale bar is 10 µm. (<i>D</i>) Quantitation of axon termination defects (hook represented in black, or overextension alone represented in grey) for the indicated genotypes. Averages are shown for data collected from 5–8 independent counts of 20–30 PLM neurons from young adult worms (16–20 hours post L4) grown at 23°C. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean, and significance was determined using an unpaired <i>t</i>-test. **p<0.01, ***p<0.001 and ns = not significant.