Giant is a bona fide gap gene in the intermediate germband insect, Oncopeltus fasciatus.

ABSTRACT: Drosophila undergoes a form of development termed long germ segmentation, where all segments are specified nearly simultaneously so that by the blastoderm stage, the entire body plan has been determined. This mode of segmentation is evolutionarily derived. Most insects undergo short or intermediate germ segmentation, where only anterior segments are specified early, and posterior segments are sequentially specified during germband elongation. These embryological differences imply that anterior and posterior segments might rely upon different molecular mechanisms. In Drosophila, embryos mutant for giant show a gap in the anterior as well fusions of several abdominal segments. In Tribolium, a short germ beetle, giant is required for segmental identity, but not formation, in gnathal segments

SUBMITTER: Liu PZ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2827692 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature