The molecular genetics of tail development in Drosophila melanogaster

The formation of the telson in the Drosophila embryo, which encompasses all structures posterior to abdominal segment 7, is under the control of the "terminal class" genes. These maternally expressed genes are organized in a signal transduction pathway which implicates cell-cell interactions between the germ cell derivatives (the nurse cells and oocyte) and the surrounding follicle cell epithelium. Activation of this localized signal transduction pathway at the termini of the embryo is believed to specify the domains of activation and repression of a set of zygotic genes whose interactions specify the various cell states required for the proper formation of tail structures.