Extent With Modification: Leg Patterning in the Beetle Tribolium castaneum and the Evolution of Serial Homologs.

ABSTRACT: Serial homologs are similar structures that develop at different positions within a body plan. These structures share some, but not all, aspects of developmental patterning, and their evolution is thought to be constrained by shared, pleiotropic gene functions. Here we describe the functions of 17 developmental genes during metamorphic development of the legs in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum. This study provides informative comparisons between appendage development in Drosophila melanogaster and T. castaneum, between embryonic and adult development in T. castaneum, and between the development of serially homologous appendages. The leg gap genes Distal-less and dachshund are conserved in function. Notch signaling, the zinc-finger transcription factors related to odd-skipped, and

SUBMITTER: Angelini DR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3284331 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature