Journal: iScience

Article Title: The Drosophila Him gene is essential for adult muscle function and muscle stem cell maintenance

doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2026.114670

Figure Lengend Snippet: HimGFP design and expression in leg disc myoblasts and adult MuSCs (A) Schematic of the HimGFP “minigene” comprising 3.8 kb upstream genomic sequence, mGFP fused to the Him coding sequence via an -SSSS- linker, followed by the Him 3′ UTR. (B) Larval T2 leg discs labeled with anti-Mef2 and anti-GFP show co-expression of HimGFP and Mef2 (examples arrowed) in the associated myoblasts ( n = 4). Scale bars, 100 μm. (C) Sagittal thoracic section showing an adult MuSC (arrows) on the periphery of a DLM fiber (boxed area shown at higher magnification). The MuSC expresses HimGFP and canonical marker Zfh1, and stains with nuclear marker Hoechst ( n = 5). Scale bars, 100 μm. (D) Close-up of a sagittal thoracic section showing adult MuSCs (arrowed) on the periphery of a DLM fiber that express both HimGFP and Mef2 ( n = 3). Scale bars, 20 μm.

Article Snippet: Rabbit anti-Mef2 (1:1,000) , DSHB , Mef2.

Techniques: Expressing, Sequencing, Labeling, Marker

Journal: iScience

Article Title: The Drosophila Him gene is essential for adult muscle function and muscle stem cell maintenance

doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2026.114670

Figure Lengend Snippet: HimGFP design and expression in leg disc myoblasts and adult MuSCs (A) Schematic of the HimGFP “minigene” comprising 3.8 kb upstream genomic sequence, mGFP fused to the Him coding sequence via an -SSSS- linker, followed by the Him 3′ UTR. (B) Larval T2 leg discs labeled with anti-Mef2 and anti-GFP show co-expression of HimGFP and Mef2 (examples arrowed) in the associated myoblasts ( n = 4). Scale bars, 100 μm. (C) Sagittal thoracic section showing an adult MuSC (arrows) on the periphery of a DLM fiber (boxed area shown at higher magnification). The MuSC expresses HimGFP and canonical marker Zfh1, and stains with nuclear marker Hoechst ( n = 5). Scale bars, 100 μm. (D) Close-up of a sagittal thoracic section showing adult MuSCs (arrowed) on the periphery of a DLM fiber that express both HimGFP and Mef2 ( n = 3). Scale bars, 20 μm.

Article Snippet: Rabbit anti-Mef2 (1:1,000) , DSHB , Mef2.

Techniques: Expressing, Sequencing, Labeling, Marker

Journal: iScience

Article Title: The Drosophila Him gene is essential for adult muscle function and muscle stem cell maintenance

doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2026.114670

Figure Lengend Snippet: Him is required for normal jump muscle morphology and function, and genetically interacts with Mef2 (A–H) Transverse cryosections of adult jump muscle labeled with anti-βPSintegrin (green) and Hoechst nuclear stain (blue). (A) Control ( yw;;nos-Cas9 ) jump muscle section ( n = 12) consists of two organized rows of muscle fibers arranged around a mid-line (white arrow). The WT morphology is disrupted in 100% of (B) Him 0 mutant ( n = 12), (C) Him 52 mutant ( n = 7), and (D) Him 0 /Him 52 heteroallelic mutant flies ( n = 7). Him mutants have “internal fibers” that do not contact the outer edge of the jump muscle (orange arrow in B). Both the HimGFP minigene and the Him duplication restore WT morphology in Him 0 (E,G) and Him 52 (F,H) mutants ( n = 8–11 per genotype). Scale bars, 50 μm. (I) Bar graph showing mean internal muscle fiber counts ±SEM of the genotypes in (A–H). Him mutants have significantly more internal fibers than WT. Both Him GFP and the Him duplication restore counts to WT values. (Kruskal-Wallis followed by post hoc Dunn’s test: p < 0.001, control versus Him 52 ∗∗∗ p < 0.001, control versus Him 0 ∗∗∗ p < 0.001, control versus Him 52 / Him 0 ∗∗∗ p < 0.001, control versus Him 52 ;; Him GFP p = 0.5985 (n.s.), control versus Him 52 ; ; Him Dup p = 0.2506 (n.s.), control versus Him 0 ;; Him GFP p = 0.2784 (n.s.), control versus Him 0 ;; Him Dup n = 0.2506 (n.s.). (J–L) Transverse cryosections of (J) control ( yw;;nos-Cas9 n = 11), (K) Him 0 mutant ( n = 6) and (L) Him 0 ; Mef2 22.21 /+ flies ( n = 11). Scale bars, 50 μm. The Mef2 22.21 allele rescues the Him mutant morphology toward WT. (M) Bar graph showing mean internal muscle fiber counts ±SEM of the genotypes in (K–M). Him 0 ;Mef2 22.21 /+ flies have significantly fewer internal fibers than Him 0 mutants, but more internal fibers than control flies (Kruskal-Wallis followed by post hoc Dunn’s test: p < 0.001, control versus Him0 ∗∗∗ p < 0.001, control versus Him0;Mef2 22.21 /+ ∗∗ p = 0.0012, Him 0 versus Him0;Mef2 22.21 /+ ∗ p = 0.0363). (N) Bar graph showing mean horizontal jump ±SEM, in response to a looming stimulus ( n = 15–20 flies per genotype). Him 0 and Him 52 adults jump significantly less distance than yw;;nosCas9 controls. HimGFP rescues each Him mutant to WT phenotype. (ANOVA followed by post hoc Dunnett’s test: ANOVA p < 0.0001, control versus Him 0 ∗ p = 0.0151, control versus Him 0 ;; Him GFP/+ non-significant (n.s.) p = 0.7185, control versus Him 52 ∗∗∗ p = 0.0001, control versus Him 52 ; Him GFP/+ n.s. p > 0.9999).

Article Snippet: Rabbit anti-Mef2 (1:1,000) , DSHB , Mef2.

Techniques: Labeling, Staining, Control, Mutagenesis

Journal: iScience

Article Title: The Drosophila Him gene is essential for adult muscle function and muscle stem cell maintenance

doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2026.114670

Figure Lengend Snippet: Him mutants have a reduced wing disc-associated myoblast pool (A–C) L3 wing imaginal discs were stained for Mhc (green), and F-actin (red). Premature muscle differentiation is not observed in (A) control ( w 1118 ) discs ( n = 17), or (B) Him 0 mutants ( n = 20). (C) 1,151-Gal4-driven UAS-Mef2 was used as a positive control ( n = 7). Scale bars, 50 μm. (D–F) L3 larval wing imaginal discs were stained for Ebd1 (green), which labels all myoblasts, and phospho-histone H3 (PH3, red), which labels mitotic cells. Scale bars, 50 μm. The myoblast pool size (outlined) was reduced in (E) Him 0 mutants ( n = 8) compared to (D) controls ( n = 9), and restored (F) when mutants were combined with Dp(1;3)DC343 ( n = 6). (G) Quantification of myoblast number for each genotype. (ANOVA followed by post hoc Dunnett’s test: ANOVA p = 0.0067, control versus Him 0 ∗∗ p = 0.0064, control versus rescue n.s. p = 0.9728). (H) Quantification of proliferating myoblasts shows the fraction of phospho-histone H3 (PH3) expressing cells was reduced in Him 0 mutants compared to controls, and restored when mutants were combined with Dp(1;3)DC343 . (ANOVA followed by post hoc Dunnett’s test: ANOVA p = 0.0022, versus control versus Him 0 ∗∗ p = 0.002, control versus rescue n.s. p = 0.9064).

Article Snippet: Rabbit anti-Mef2 (1:1,000) , DSHB , Mef2.

Techniques: Staining, Control, Positive Control, Expressing