Hypodermal (epidermal) cells in rhgf-2(gk216) mutants do not elongate.

The apical cell junction marker AJM-1::GFP was used to examine hypodermal cell morphology in control and rhgf-2(gk216) mutant backgrounds at the indicated stages of development. Hypodermal seam cells in control animals are square or rounded in shape at the 1.5 fold stage of development (A), but they elongate later in embryogenesis and appear rectangular at the L1 stage as viewed in an image of the posterior region (B). Identified cells are labeled in white. Hypodermal cells remain round or square shaped in rhgf-2(gk216) mutants indicating embryonic cell shape changes did not occur properly in the mutants (C). The control strain, which has an embryonic AJM-1::GFP expression pattern similar to wild type, is jcIs1[ajm-1::gfp; pRF4; C45D3]; him-5. The genotype of the rhgf-2 strain is rhgf-2(gk216); jcIs1. Scale bars are 25 µm.