Figure 3

lin-12 is not required in the gonadal or vulval lineages to regulate reversal rates. The somatic gonads and vulval tissues were eliminated by killing the progenitor Z1 and Z4 cells in L1 larvae with a laser microbeam (see text for details). Successful ablation of Z1 and Z4 was scored visually as follows: animals in which both Z1 and Z4 were ablated lacked gonads and vulvae; animals in which only one of the two cells were killed results in a protruding vulva; and animals in which neither cell was killed resulted in fertile animals with normal vulvae. Only animals in which both Z1 and Z4 were killed were scored for behavior. The reversal rates of mock treated lin-12(RNAi) and lin-12p::lin-12(OE) animals were slightly lower compared to untreated animals, but they were still significantly higher than that of wild type. ** p<0.01, *** p<0.001. Statistical comparisons are to wild type.