Fig. 1

Visual function declines with age independent of retinal degeneration. a Representative confocal images of adult retinas stained with phalloidin (red) and 4C5 (Rh1, green) from male Rh1-Gal4 > KASH-GFP flies 10 and 40 days post-eclosion (n = 5). Scale bars: 5 μm. b Survival curve showing the percentage of viable Rh1-Gal4 > KASH-GFP male flies at each age (n = 345). c Box plots showing the light preference indices (positive phototaxis) for Rh1-Gal4 > KASH-GFP flies at day 10, 25 and 40 (n = 13 experiments; 27 - 33 male flies/experiment). p value, normally-distributed data were analyzed using ANOVA followed by Tukey’s honest significant different (HSD) post hoc test. d Photoreceptor R1 – R6 nuclei in each ommatidium were labeled with nuclear membrane-localized GFP in Rh1-Gal4 > KASH-GFP flies. Affinity-enriched GFP-labeled nuclei bound to antibody-coated magnetic beads are shown in the two lower panels. DAPI, blue; GFP, green. Schematic of the RNA-seq experimental design is shown in the right panel. Graphic generated by authors