Homeo Box Sequences of the Antennapedia Class Are Conserved Only in Higher Animal Genomes (original) (raw)

1. W. McGinnis
2. Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511

Excerpt

On the basis of mutant phenotypes and localized gene expression, homeotic gene products are believed to be the key elements in determining the morphogenetic fates of cells in the Drosophila body plan (Garcia-Bellido 1977; Lewis 1978; Struhl 1982; Akam 1983; Levine et al. 1983; Hafen et al. 1984b; White and Wilcox 1984; Beachy et al. 1985). Many of these homeotic genes, as judged from the above phenotypic criteria, appear to assign differential cell fates along the longitudinal body axis, thus specifying one region of the body to develop into a specific element of the metameric anatomy of the fly. For example, in the absence of the gene products for the homeotic gene Antennapedia (Antp), no second thoracic segment is formed; however, when the Antp gene products are ectopically expressed, multiple copies of the second thoracic segment are formed along the embryonic body axis (Wakimoto and Kaufman 1981; Hafen et al....