Table 1

The mean number of nuclei in wild-type PointClouds


Stage cohort



5:0-3%
5:4-8%
5:9-25%
5:26-50%
5:51-75%
5:76-100%

No. of embryos
144
153
146
151
170
130
Mean no. of nuclei
6,065
6,079
6,095
6,093
5,997
5,898
SD no. of nuclei
334
249
266
241
281
285
95% CI
± 55
± 39
± 43
± 38
± 42
± 49

The standard deviation (SD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the mean are shown for each of the temporal cohorts studied. The last two cohorts have lower numbers of nuclei, probably due to segmentation errors affecting data from increasingly dense dorsal regions (see [12]). Because the local nuclear density differences develop well before the embryos have reached these last two temporal cohorts, we conclude that the blastoderm density changes are due to nuclear movement, not the preferential loss or increase of nuclei.

Keränen et al. Genome Biology 2006 7:R124   doi:10.1186/gb-2006-7-12-r124

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