Figure 1. Transcript abundance for
par-2,
lgl-1 and
chin-1 in embryos of the wild strain JU1088 and the wild-type reference strain N2, via single-molecule fluorescent in situ hybridization (smFISH):(A) Representative images of a single embryo of strain JU1088. The DIC channel shows the embryo within the microfluidics array, and the DNA stain in the DAPI channel indicates that this is an early-stage embryo shortly after fertilization. In the
par-2,
lgl-1,
chin-1 and composite channels, each spot indicates an individual RNA transcript. (B) Transcript counts for JU1088 (N=118) and N2 (N=105) embryos for the three genes, plotted over embryo stage given by number of nuclei. Each circle represents an individual embryo. The dashed lines show the estimated linear relationship between transcript abundance and embryonic stage. After controlling for stage, differences in adjusted transcript means suggest that
par-2 levels are higher in JU1088 (p=0.009) and that
chin-1 levels are higher in N2 (p=0.021*). Insets show adjusted means with 95% confidence. (C) - (E) The same data, now with free y-axis scales and transcript abundance regressed onto embryonic stage in separate intervals for
par-2 and
chin-1. For
par-2 (D), solid lines over the second and third intervals indicate strain-wise differences in slope (p=0.018* and p=0.001). Inset depicts regression lines with standard error in gray. For
chin-1 (E), the highlighted first segment indicates a difference in adjusted mean transcripts between the strains (p=0.003). Inset shows adjusted means with 95% confidence. *Marginal significance; αcorrected=0.017 for all tests.