slow as molasses: a new gene in Drosophila

• Autores: Lindell Bromham
• Localización: Trends in ecology and evolution, ISSN 0169-5347, Vol. 17, Nº 10, 2002, pág. 454
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The stately progression of cell division in an early embryo is familiar to us from video footage used in countless biology classes. But this image does not portray the importance of cell location and movement. The embryo could divide indefinitely, but without spatial information it would remain an undifferentiated blob. Something must break the symmetry to enable development of a front end, a back end, and everything in between. Some species use an environmental cue (gravity), some use a physical cue (sperm entry point) but, more commonly, they use a chemical cue to initiate asymmetry and form axes of differentiation.