The fushi tarazu
gene is also known as simply the ftz gene. It is a gene found in the
fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Normal
fruit fly embryos look like a series of stacked
discs; these disclike
structures are called segments. Each
segment eventually
develops into specific
adult fly structures (
wings,
antennae, legs,
eyes, etc.) Flies which have a
mutant form of the ftz
gene are
missing every other
segment.
From the BioTech Dictionary at http://biotech.icmb.utexas.edu/. For further information see the BioTech homenode.