Fig. 5. C. elegans gonad phenotypes associated with ubc-2 RNAi. (A) The top row shows Nomarski images of gonads after 34 hours at 25°C. Gonads from ubc-2(RNAi) animals appear abnormal. The lower panels show DAPI-stained gonads. Expansion of the transition zone can be seen in ubc-2(RNAi) gonads. In both N2 and mat-1(ax161) animals, pachytene nuclei can be seen in the right hand side of the panel. Pachytene nuclei are rare or significantly displaced towards the proximal side of the gonad in ubc-2(RNAi) animals and extend nearly to the end of the normal pachytene region. Diakinetic nuclei look normal with six paired homologs. Significant enhancement of the mitotic metaphase plate phenotype can be seen in the mat-1(ax161); ubc-2(RNAi) gonads. (B) Extended RNAi with ubc-2 results in an Emo phenotype. A DAPI-stained gonad from a worm that was fed ubc-2 dsRNA from the L1 stage. An excessive amount of DNA is apparent in the large oocytes of the proximal region of the gonad (right side).