Figure 3

LacZ staining highlights truncated facial nerves and impaired axonal projection properties of vMNs in mice lacking Shox2 function. a–j BAC RP23-105B3-lacZ transgenic animals stained with X-gal. a, b Side view of the E11.5 face of control (a) and Nestin-Cre; Shox2 ^flox/− (b) embryos display similar axonal projections of the main branch of the facial nerve (VII) (compare a to b, arrows). c, d Side view of the E12.5 face of control (c) and Nestin-Cre; Shox2 ^flox/− (d) embryos display facial nerve truncation in mice lacking Shox2 function (compare c to d, arrow). e–h Side view of the E13.5 (e, f) and E14.5 (g, h) face of control (e, g) and Nestin-Cre; Shox2 ^flox/− (f, h) embryos highlights the zygomatic (z), temporal (t), superior buccolabial (sbl), inferior buccolabial (ibl) and marginal mandibular (mm) nerve branches in control (e, g) embryos, which are truncated or lost in Nestin-Cre; Shox2 ^flox/− embryos (compare e to f and g to h, arrows). i, j Side view of the P0 face of control (i) and Nestin-Cre; Shox2 ^flox/− (j) pups demonstrate that the facial nerves are absent in Nestin-Cre; Shox2 ^flox/− pups (compare i to j, arrows). ey eye, b buccal nerve, sm superficial masseter nerve. Scale bar 500 μm.