The Drosophila giant lens gene plays a dual role in eye and optic lobe development: inhibition of differentiation of ommatidial cells and interference in photoreceptor axon guidance.

Abstract excerpt

The Drosophila giant lens (gil) gene encodes a secreted molecule which if absent leads to the recruitment of additional ommatidial cells normally eliminated by apoptosis. Heat induced ectopic gil expression leads to a reduction of ommatidial cells suggesting that gil is secreted by differentiating cells to prevent the development of an excess of cells of a given ommatidial cell type. A second important defect is...

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