Segment polarity gene

A segmentation gene is a generic term for a gene whose function is to specify tissue pattern in each repeated unit of a segmented organism. In the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, segment polarity genes help to define the anterior and posterior polarities within each embryonic parasegment by regulating the transmission of signals via the Wnt signaling pathway and Hedgehog signaling pathway. Segment polarity genes are expressed in the embryo following expression of the gap genes and pair-rule genes. The most commonly cited examples of these genes are engrailed and gooseberry in D. melanogaster.^[1]

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