Creation and characterization of DmMterf3 knockout larvae.

(A) The DmMterf3 locus and generation of a DmMterf3 null mutant. DmMterf3 is located on the third chromosome at cytological position 77C6. The construct (ko DmMterf3) used for ends-out homologous recombination is indicated by grey boxes, coding sequences in exons are indicated by black boxes and non-coding sequences in exons by white boxes. The gap between grey boxes represents the genomic region replaced by attP and a white marker gene. The white marker gene was subsequently removed by crossing to cre-recombinase expressing flies. (B) PCR analysis of wild-type and knockout alleles for DmMterf3. (C) Body size comparison of DmMterf3 knockout larvae 6 days after egg-laying (ael) showing reduced size. (D) QRT-PCR analysis of DmMterf3 transcript levels in control (white and grey bars) and DmMterf3 KO larvae (black bars) at 3 and 6 days ael. (E) Q-PCR analysis of mtDNA levels in larvae at 3 and 6 days ael. (F) QRT-PCR analysis of steady-state levels of mitochondrial mRNAs normalized to the nuclear ribosomal protein 49 transcript levels in larvae at 3 and 6 days ael. Error bars indicate mean ± SEM (^*p<0.05; ^**p<0.01; ^***p<0.001; n = 5).