Fig. 4

Presence of moulting and cuticle defects in Wrt family knockdowns and knockouts. a, c Wild-type worms showing head and tail, respectively. b wrt-4 KD animal with an improperly shed cuticle in the head region, referred to as ‘head in a bag’ phenotype (see arrow). d wrt-5 KD animal with an improperly shed cuticle in the tail region (see arrow). Scale bar 50 μm. e % penetrance of moulting defects present upon RNAi knockdown of a Wrt family member (x-axis). Empty vector control (L4440) animals do not display any moulting defects (n = 51). 0% penetrance of moulting defects were recorded upon knockdown of: wrt-7 (n = 67); wrt-9 (n = 85); wrt-10 (n = 59). Moulting defects were recorded upon knockdown of wrt-1 (n = 80); wrt-2 (n = 72); wrt-3 (n = 69); wrt-4 (n = 80); wrt-5 (n = 71); wrt-6 (n = 45); wrt-8 (n = 56). f % penetrance of moulting defects in wild-type (n = 50) as compared to animals carrying the wrt-3(ok2608) allele (n = 81) or the wrt-5(ok670) allele (n = 71) or the double mutant, wrt-5(ok670);wrt-3(ok2608) (n = 67). g % penetrance of moulting defects in wild-type as compared to animals carrying the wrt-2(ok2810) allele (n = 65), the wrt-4(tm1911) allele (n = 108), the wrt-8(tm1585) allele (n = 68) or the following double/triple mutants: wrt-4(tm1911);wrt-2(ok2810) (n = 102); wrt-8(tm1585);wrt-2(ok2810) (n = 87); wrt-8(tm1585);wrt-4(tm1911) (n = 54); wrt-8(tm1585);wrt-4(tm1911);wrt-2(ok2810) (n = 103). Black bars show mean + SEM (e–g). Black asterisks (****P ≤ 0.0001, ***P ≤ 0.001, **P ≤ 0.01, *P ≤ 0.05, nsP > 0.05) show statistically significant differences in the means compared to control RNAi with an unpaired t test (e) or in the means of Wrt mutants compared to WT with an unpaired t test (f, g)