Decapentaplegic

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Decapentaplegic refers to the 15 (decapenta-) major imaginal discs present in Drosophila melanogaster larvae and to the usually fatal consequences of allelic mutations in the genetic locus that governs the development of these disks into their respective body parts (-plegic, "paralysis"); as such, it is a morphogen. As such, it is the name is used for the entire decapentaplegic gene complex in the Drosophila melanogaster genome (e.g., "mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 1").