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6 - DEVELOPMENTAL MECHANISMS: GENES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Wallace Arthur
Affiliation:
University of Sunderland
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Summary

Introduction

In the previous chapter, we looked at developmental mechanisms from a starting point of the kinds of signals that cells receive: cell–cell contacts, mid-range and long-range morphogens. While genes were seen to be involved both in generating and responding to these signals, the approach adopted was not primarily a genetic one. We now embark upon the complementary, gene-centred approach. As noted in Chapter 5, these two approaches should ultimately converge to provide a comprehensive understanding of how developmental mechanisms work.

The approach, in the present chapter, is still developmental rather than evolutionary – phylogenetic comparisons will follow in Chapter 7. Thus I will concentrate here on a single organism, Drosophila melanogaster, which is still the best-known animal system from a developmental genetics perspective – though Caenorhabditis, with less than 1,000 cells, may be ‘catching up’. Even with this restriction of focus, though, the relevant literature is now voluminous. One of the reasons for this is that the number of genes involved in development has turned out to be larger than was once anticipated. An early review of the genetics of Drosophila development was provided by Ingham (1988). More recent reviews are also available, but tend to be comparatively restricted in scope (see, for example, Blair 1995).

I will attempt to give a brief overview of Drosophila developmental genetics in the following section, with particular reference to the main body axes.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Origin of Animal Body Plans
A Study in Evolutionary Developmental Biology
, pp. 126 - 148
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1997

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