Fig. 2. Cell fusion events in vulva revealed by the expression of ajm-1::GFP. (A,B) Wild-type. (C-G) lin-11(n389). The regions occupied by VPC progeny are marked with brackets. All images are the ventral views of the vulva. (A) Wild-type vulval rings (vulA to vulF) are visible at different focal planes. The outermost boundaries of the rings are marked with respective cell types. (B) A schematic representation of the vulval rings from lateral and ventral sides. For easier viewing, alternative rings have been coded with dark and light colors. The ventral view shows all seven rings together. (C) A n389 animal with abnormal vulval fusions. The outermost ring (big arrow) corresponds to the 2° lineage cells. The inside rings (small arrows) belong to the 1° lineage cells. Brackets marked with red star point to the unfused vulval cells (punctate GFP). (F) Same animal as in C, under Nomarski. (D) Another n389 animal. In this case, all 2° lineage cells have fused together (big arrow). The small arrows point to the 1° lineage rings. (G) Same animal as in D, under Nomarski. (E) P6.p lineage cells were ablated in this n389 animal. The outermost big ring is still visible (arrow). (H) n389 animal. P5.p and P7.p lineage cells were ablated during early L3 stage. Vulval rings corresponding to the 1° lineage cells (arrows) have abnormal morphology. Scale bars: in A, 12 µm; in G, 10 µm for C-H.

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