Fig. 1

Knockdown of smooth muscle expressed miR-145 results in epithelial proliferative and functional defects. (A) A transverse section of miR-145 stained embryos at 96 hpf shows strong and specific expression in gut smooth muscle cells (SMC) but not in epithelial cells (EC). (A2) is an enlargement of the boxed area in (A). (B) Quantification of the percentage of EDU positive proliferating cells in epithelial and smooth muscle layers (SMC) at 96 hpf shows decreased cell proliferation in the miR-145 morphant epithelial layer (P<0.01). (C, D) Examples of wild type (WT, C) and miR-145 morphant (D) transverse sections used for the quantification in (B) showing EDU positive cells (red) in the gut epithelium (arrow) but scarce EDU positive cells in smooth muscle layer (arrowhead). Sections are counterstained with DAPI (blue). (E, F) Lateral view of 120 hpf whole-mount larvae after ingestion of Rhodamine Dextran shows dye in the pharynx (p) and gut (g) of wild type embryos (E), but only in the pharynx of miR-145 morphants (F). The magnification for C, D is in panel D, and for E, F is in F.