<i>gbf-1(RNAi)</i> worms causes multiple development defects.

<p>(A) <i>gbf-1(RNAi)</i> worms have a weakened cuticle. When fed from hatching on <i>gbf-1(RNAi)</i> bacteria, the majority of the worms died of cuticle bursting upon reaching adulthood. Adult worms and their offspring on agar plates. Black arrows point to worms that have bursted. This phenotype is consistently seen in all <i>gbf-1(RNAi)</i> feedings from hatching (B) Although most embryos arrested early in development in <i>gfb-1(RNAi)</i> worms, few larvae could hatch from the eggs. These larvae often displayed severe problems with their cuticle formation. Black arrow points to an intestine that is directly exposed to the environment instead of being protected by the cuticle. (C) Worms fed on <i>gbf-1(RNAi)</i> from hatching frequently accumulate liquid filled vacuoles in the body cavity. Furthermore they are sterile (no eggs in the uterus) and their intestine appears ‘clear’. Merged bright field images of whole worms. Black arrows point to vacuoles. (D) During meiosis the egg normally expels two polar bodies during anaphase I and II. In <i>gbf-1(RNAi)</i> eggs, the extrusion of the second polar body during anaphase II often failed, which can be seen by the presence of 3 nuclei (arrow) in fertilized eggs at pronuclear meeting. This phenotype was consistently seen throughout different experiments involving embryos. We used SP12::GFP marking the ER that nicely outlined the nuclei. Anterior in both one-cell embryos is on the left. A single plane confocal image is shown. (E) Offspring from worms fed on <i>gbf-1(RNAi)</i> from L3 frequently show problems with cytokinesis which results in unequal distribution of the DNA between cells. GFP::H2B was used to visualize the DNA. The experiment was performed at least three times.