BIO 538 Molecular Mechanisms of Animal Development
Name ________________________________________
Readings Worksheet 2
"Drosophila and the Molecular Genetics of Pattern Formation"
“Homeotic Selector Genes and the Patterning of the Anterioposterior Axis”
Molecular Biology of the Cell, pp. 1177-1196
Use other internet sources and textbooks to help you understand new terminology or concepts.
1. Why is Drosophila an excellent experimental system for studying animal development?
2. Diagram a simple fate map of the early embryo showing the regions that will eventually become the major adult
body parts (head, thorax, abdomen).
3. How does a series of protein gradients help define the different axes of the embryo?
4. How does the Dorsal gradient help set up further gradients that define dorsal-ventral tissues?
5. How does the Bicoid gradient help set up further gradients and positional gene expressions that define anteriorposterior tissues?
6. How does the promoter for even-skipped (eve) gene display the modular nature of control regions in eukaryotes?
7. What is the function of homeotic genes?