Homeotic gene
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Homeotic genes can, when modified cause homeotic mutations or bizarre and fundamental developmental reorganizations of the body. An example would be the Antennapedia mutant in Drosophila where legs are found sprouting where antenna would normally be. Homeotic genes in general transform parts of the body into structures appropriate to other positions.
They generally encode transcription factors that are important in development. Mutation has serious consequences. They are evolutionarily highly conserved, thus showing their importance. Groups of homeotic selector genes determine how different regions of an organism develop. In Drosophila two groups of homeotic selector genes, bithorax complex and Antennapedia complex, control the differences between the abdominal and thoracic segments of the body and the differences among thoracic and head segments respectively. The same (or homologous) genes are present in essentially all animals, humans included, and both complexes are part of a single complex known as Hox which has been split in the course of evolution of Drosophila. Members (genes) of the Hox complex exert coordinated influence over the head/tail patterning of the body.
(Alberts et al, The Cell, 2002)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Homeotic Selector Genes in Developmental Biology, 6th Edition by Scott F. Gilbert (2000) Published by Sinauer Associates, Inc. ISBN 0-87893-243-7.
