Fig. 6

Autophagy was activated to inhibit the production of Dpn ⁺ GMCs in mxc knockdown NBs. A–B’ Third-instar larval brains of wt (A–A’) and mxc RNAi (B–B’), labeled by anti-Dpn (red) and anti-Atg8a (green). In wt larval central brain (A), only basic signals of Atg8a were detected. In mxc RNAi larval central brain (B), an increased number of Atg8a puncta (arrowheads) was detected in the cytoplasm of the NB. Scale bars: 20 μm. C Statistical analysis of autophagy levels in the NBs of wt and mxc RNAi larval central brains. The data are plotted as mean ± SD. ****p < 0.0001 using a Student’s t test, p = 1.764E-08. Numbers of NBs counted N = 60, N = 87, respectively. D–G Third-instar larval brains of wt (D), Atg1 RNAi (E), mxc RNAi (F) and Atg1 RNAi, mxc RNAi double knockdown (G) lines, labeled by anti-Dpn (red). Atg1 RNAi (E) larval brains showed the same phenotype as the wt (D). Central brains in Atg1 RNAi, mxc RNAi double knockdown lines (G) showed more Dpn⁺ cells than those in mxc RNAi lines (F). Scale bars: 20 μm. (H) Statistical data of the numbers of Dpn⁺ cells in the larval central brains of wt, mxc RNAi, Atg1 RNAi and Atg1 RNAi, mxc RNAi double knockdown lines. The data are plotted as mean ± SD. **p < 0.01 and ns not significant using a Student’s t test, p = 0.0043 and 0.6104, respectively. Numbers of brain lobes counted N = 6, N = 4, N = 4, N = 3, respectively