RNAi screen reveals genes required for embryonic germ cell development.

(A–D) Frames from movie sequences show germ-cell development of wild type and dsRNA-injected embryos with abnormal germ cell development. Embryos express EGFP in the germ cells. All embryos are shown in dorsal view with anterior to the left. The scale bar represents 50 µm. (A) Control embryo injected with buffer. (B–D) Examples for various germ-line defects. (B) Embryo injected with CG8116 dsRNA. Arrows indicate germ cells stuck in the midgut. (C) Embryo injected with pbl dsRNA. PGCs are scattered in the body cavity (arrowheads), their number is reduced and no embryonic gonads were formed. (D) Embryo injected with neur dsRNA shows gonad compaction defects. (E) Heat map representation of the RNAi phenotypes following hierarchical clustering. Color code represents penetrance of the phenotypic categories.