In fruit flies, the discovery of Hox genes was facilitated by observations of spontaneous mutants. Mutations in specific Hox genes caused legs to grow out of a fly's head, wings to grow where they ...

Hox genes and their relatives are involved in several developmental processes in diverse animals, but when did they first arise? The genome sequence of the sponge Amphimedon queenslandica shows ...

In fruit flies, for example, a malfunctioning body-plan gene can produce a fly with legs sprouting from where the antennae should be on the head. Or the fly has an extra set of wings -- or no ...

Fruit fly mutants that have severe sleep deficits perform better at olfactory learning and memory tasks, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Sheng Huang and ...