Loss of ANI-2 causes germ cell multinucleation and collapse of membrane partitions. (A) Mid-section confocal images of the germline of wild-type and ani-2(−) hermaphrodite animals at various stages of development expressing a membrane marker (green) and mCherry::Histone H2B (red). Each image was assembled from multiple acquisitions of the same animal. Arrowheads point to multinucleated germ cells. (B) Average number of multinucleated germ cells in various germline regions of ani-2(−) mutant hermaphrodites at the specified stage. Multinucleation was never observed in control animals at any stage. Error bars represent SD over 5–9 animals at each stage. (C) Proportion of multinucleated germ cells with 2, 3, 4, 5–10, and >10 nuclei in various germline regions of ani-2(−) hermaphrodites at the specified stage. The number of germ cells analyzed is shown for each condition. (D) Mid-section confocal time-lapse images of germ cells of an ani-2(−) hermaphrodite expressing a membrane marker (green) and mCherry::Histone H2B (red) captured during the collapse of a membrane partition (arrowhead). The stages examined and reported are early-mid L4 larvae, late L4 larvae, 20 h post-L4 stage, and 48 h post-L4 stage. Bars (A and D), 10 µm.