Fig. 5: Cell-autonomous sexual identity in enterocytes dictates the levels of autophagy, histones and Bchs expressions in response to rapamycin treatment.
a, Feminization of male guts by expression of traF in ECs reduced the number of LysoTracker-stained puncta in the gut, and it restored the response to rapamycin treatment (200 µM) at 10 days of age (control male mexG4 > + vs feminized male mexG4 > traF; scale bar = 20 µm; n = 7 intestines per condition; n = 2–3 pictures per intestine, data points represent the average value per intestine; linear mixed model, interaction P < 0.05; post-hoc test). b, Masculinization of female guts by knockdown of traF in ECs increased the number of LysoTracker-stained puncta in the gut, and abolished the response to rapamycin treatment (200 µM), at 10 days of age (control female mexG4 > + vs masculinized female mexG4 > traF [RNAi]; scale bar = 20 µm; n = 7 intestines per condition; n = 2–3 pictures per intestine, data points represent the average value per intestine; linear mixed model, interaction P < 0.05; post-hoc test). c, Expression of histones H3 and H4 in the gut of feminized males was lower than in males, and rapamycin treatment (200 µM) increased it to the level in males, at 10 days of age (n = 3–4 biological replicates of 10 intestines per replicate, two-way ANOVA, H3 and H4, interaction P < 0.05; post-hoc test). d, Expression of Bchs in the gut of feminized males did not significantly lower than in males, whereas rapamycin treatment (200 µM) increased it to the level in males, at 10 days of age (n = 4 biological replicates of 10 intestines per replicate, two-way ANOVA, interaction P < 0.05; post-hoc test). e,f, Expression of histones H3, H4 and Bchs in the gut of masculinized females did not differ significantly from that in females, and we did not detect an increase upon rapamycin treatment (200 µM), at 10 days of age (n = 4 biological replicates of 10 intestines per replicate, two-way ANOVA, H3 and H4, interaction P > 0.05; Bchs, interaction P < 0.05; post-hoc test). Data are presented as mean values ± s.e.m.
