FlyBase curator comment: this entry is used to capture phenotypic information when the particular allele (or allele combination) used by the author could not be determined but the context of the experiment suggests that the phenotype being described is some kind of loss of function.
Homozygous embryos have a severe reduction in body wall musculature, due to a failure of many myoblasts to fuse to form myotubes. The defects during myogenesis cover the majority of somatic muscles in the head, thorax and abdomen. The pharyngeal muscles also show a fusion defect. Later in embryogenesis, elongated unfused myoblasts, corresponding to the remaining founder cells, are visible. Motorneurons appear to have contact with elongated unfused myoblasts and to some rounded myoblasts.
