Segment polarity gene

Segment polarity genes determine the cell pattern and orientation within each segment of insects. Together with the gap genes and the pair rule genes, they belong to the group of zygotically controlled segmentation genes .

function

A mutation in these genes can lead to the loss of certain cell structures ( deletions ) or duplications. Their function was investigated on the model organism Drosophila melanogaster , in which, for example, the mutation in the segment polarity gene "wingless" means that the adult fly has no wings. A mutation in the “engrailed gene” prevents the formation of a cuticle layer.

literature

Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard: The development of life: how genes control development . The Nobel Prize winner on the metamorphoses of life. CH Beck, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-406-51818-4 , p. 80 ff. u. a . ( Online at Google Books [accessed January 10, 2020]).

Individual evidence

↑ Wilfried Janning, Elisabeth Knust: Genetics: general genetics, molecular genetics, developmental genetics . Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart / New York 2004, ISBN 3-13-128771-3 , p. 351 ( excerpt [accessed January 8, 2020]).

[1] Wilfried Janning, Elisabeth Knust: Genetics: general genetics, molecular genetics, developmental genetics . Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart / New York 2004, ISBN 3-13-128771-3 , p. 351 ( excerpt [accessed January 8, 2020]).