col-41::mCherry expression is observed in epidermal nuclei in L3 and early L4 larval stage animals. mCherry is also expressed in the vulval precursor cells, a ventral epidermal lineage, during the L3 stage. Expression is absent from the lateral epidermal seam cells; this absence is more apparent in the GFP reporter, which is not nuclear localized and therefore shows diffuse fluorescence throughout the cytoplasm. The spatial expression pattern is very similar to that reported for the cuticle collagen gene
dpy-7 (Gilleard et al., 1997). Temporally, however, COL-41 appears to be a larval-specific cuticle collagen, with expression absent from embryos and adults. This result is consistent with RNAseq analyses that demonstrate a peak of
col-41 expression in L2.