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TY - JOUR AU - Shepherd, John C. W. AU - McGinnis, William AU - Carrasco, Andrés E. AU - De Robertis, Eddy M. AU - Gehring, Walter J. PY - 1984 DA - 1984/07/01 TI - Fly and frog homoeo domains show homologies with yeast mating type regulatory proteins JO - Nature SP - 70 EP - 71 VL - 310 IS - 5972 AB - Homoeotic genes in the bithorax and Antennapedia complexes of Drosophila melanogaster appear to specify the developmental fate of segments of the fly. Some of these genes (Ultrabithorax, Antennapedia and fushi tarazu) share homology due to their conservation of a ‘homoeo domain’1,2 consisting of 60 amino acids. Cross-hybridization and cloning experiments show that the homoeo domain is conserved in a frog (Xenopus laevis) gene expressed in early development3 and may also be present in earthworm, beetle, chicken, mouse and human genomes2. The extreme conservation found in the amino acid sequences between the Drosophila and Xenopus domains suggests that the domain has a vital function in the control of early development. Here we report the results of a search made in the Dayhoff sequence bank, which reveals a lesser but apparently significant homology between the homoeo domain and the amino acids coded from parts of the a1 and α2 mating type genes of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae4,5. SN - 1476-4687 UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/310070a0 DO - 10.1038/310070a0 ID - Shepherd1984 ER -