Asymmetric localization of dazl and Gasz to the Balbiani body fails in bucky ball mutants. (A) In wild-type primary oocytes dazl mRNA localizes to the Balbiani body, (B) then expands toward the vegetal pole. In stages II (C), III (D), and IV (E) wild-type oocytes, dazl transcripts are localized to the vegetal cortex. (K) In wild-type eggs before activation, dazl is localized to the vegetal pole. (F) In bucky ball mutants dazl fails to localize to the Balbiani body in primary oocytes and (G) remains dispersed throughout early stage II oocytes. In stage II (H), early stage III (I), and stage IV bucky ball oocytes (J), dazl mRNA is not localized, although small foci of transcripts are present (yellow asterisks in panel J) at all stages of oogenesis. Arrows indicate the cortex in panels E, J. dazl mRNA remains unlocalized in mutant eggs (L). (M) Hermes protein in wild-type stage I oocytes (pink arrows indicate the Balbiani body). Hermes does not localize in a cytoplasmic aggregate in bucky ball mutant primary oocytes (N). (O) Gasz protein localizes to an aggregate in stage I wild-type oocytes, colocalizing with mitochondria labeled with DiOC6 (P) in the Balbiani body (Q, merged; Gasz (red), DiOC6 (green)). (R) Gasz protein is not asymmetrically localized in bucky ball stage I oocytes. The oocyte stage is shown at the lower right of panels. VE — vitelline envelope. Panels A–J are 5 μM sections following whole mount in situ hybridization. Panels K, L are whole mounts. (M–R) Confocal images (63x objective). Bars = 50 μm.
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