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Homeobox
A short sequence of DNA that is 180 base pairs long
and located in the 3' exon of certain genes of the
Drosophila fly (where they were discovered by
Walter Gehring during the 1970s). In the 1980s, Jani
Christian Nusslein-Volhard discovered that one
homeobox was attached (in adjacent exon) to each of
the genes that are responsible for embryonic
development (i.e., "switched on" only in an embryo
that is developing into an adult), in a wide variety
of species including invertebrates, birds, and
mammals. Thus, it is now possible to locate many
embryonic-development genes in many species by using a
DNA probe (made via a Drosophila homeobox DNA
sequence) to find homeobox sequences attached to those
embryonic-development genes. In such a role, the
respective homeobox sequences attached to each gene
are known as DNA markers.
GENE, DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID (DNA), DNA PROBE, DNA
MARKER, SEQUENCE (OF A DNA MOLECULE), BASE PAIR (bp), DROSOPHILA, EXON, SPECIES |
