Fig. 8. Regional-specific expression of msslo in dorsal longitudinal muscles (DLM). (A) Message levels of msslo in the abdominal DLMs are similar in larvae and pharate adults and are higher than in early-stage pupae. (B) By contrast, transcript levels are dramatically increased in the adult thoracic DLM in comparison with larval msslo mRNA levels. These changes are temporally correlated to the switch in the contractile properties of the thoracic DLMs from tonic in larvae to phasic in adults. Total RNA (1 µg per lane) was isolated from abdominal and thoracic DLMs from day 2 fifth instar larvae (V2), day 6 pupae (P6) and pharate adults (PA) and hybridized to the digoxigenin-labeled msslo 680 bp cDNA insert or loading control M. sexta ribosomal protein S3 (rpS3) cDNA insert (Jiang et al., 1996). The sizes (kb) of the hybridizing RNAs are shown on the left.