Thompson Group - Model Organism Oikopleura dioica

Oikopleura dioica in it's filter feeding house - oikoplastic.

Hoechst staining of nuclei in a juvenile Oikopleura dioica Mouth is left, large developing gonad (right) and part of the tail pointing to the bottom right. The oikoplastic epithelium covers most of the trunk and the differential size of nuclei in different fields is apparent.

The Hoechst-stained oikoplastic epithelium has be slit ventrally and spread. The composite pattern of expression of 7 families of genes coding for different house proteins (oikosins) is digitally superimposed of the left side of the spread. The patterns are bilaterally symmetric.