Developmental functions of the superior ocular sulcus.

<p>(A) The prominent and persistent SOS (red asterisk) present in <i>gdf6a</i>^<i>+/-</i> embryos aligns with the boundary between the nasal marker <i>foxg1a</i> and temporal marker <i>foxd1</i>. Note that nasal-temporal patterning is unchanged in the <i>gdf6a</i> heterozygotes (bottom row) compared to the wildtype embryos (top row). (B) SEM photographs showing the dorsal radial vessel (DRV) extending into the SOS (top row). DIC images of DRV (blue arrowheads) within a wide SOS (red arrows) (bottom row). Right panels are magnified views of boxed regions. (C-D) Surface projections (C) and single optical slices (D) from confocal images of <i>Tg(rx3</i>:<i>GFP; kdrl</i>:<i>mCherry)</i> embryos show the DRV (magenta) extending through the SOS (optic cup and lens are cyan). Scale bars are 50 μm unless otherwise noted.