Fig. 1

xWnt11 impairs elongation, xWnt5a impairs constriction. a Representative phenotypes of DMZ explants. The overexpression of xWnt5a results in broader, less elongated explants; the overexpression of xWnt11 inhibits elongation. Elongation and constriction were determined by phenotypically analyzing the length (red line) and width (blue line) of the outgrowth. Control explants show a protrusion with length > > width. For explants with inhibited elongation (xWnt11), hardly any protrusion can be detected. In explants showing failures in constriction, the protrusion is broader at the expense of length (xWnt5A). Constriction of explants that did not elongate could not be determined. b Quantification of elongation. xWnt5a has no influence on elongation, whereas xWnt11 inhibits elongation in a dose-dependent manner. c Quantification of constriction. xWnt5a inhibits constriction in a dose-dependent manner, xWnt11 has no significant influence on constriction of the explants. Shown is the frequency of the indicated phenotypes. The superimposed error bars illustrate the variation between N independent experiments (biological replicates). In each experiment, the absolute frequency of the indicated phenotypes was normalized to the control siblings. In total, 69 explants of the uninjected controls could be analyzed, 60 of which elongated and could be evaluated for constriction. For 50 pg xWnt11 this means that n = 36 explants were analyzed for “relative elongation”, but only n = 10 explants could be considered to analyze relative constriction. N: number of biological replicates; n: number of analyzed explants. *** P < 0.001 according to Fisher’s exact test; Bars: 200 μm