| Citation | Drosophila development genetics has been transformed over the last few years. Dr Christiane Nusslein-Volhard is largely responsible for this. By means of systematic mutation screens (some with Dr E.W. Wieshaus) which took over ten years of well planned and well executed work she was able to identify most of the genes that are responsible for pattern formation and to distinguish these from genes with more commonplace functions. She is now analysing these genes, combining the approaches of molecular biology, genetics and expeimental embryology and has emerged as the clear world leader in this field. Amongst her many discoveries is the demonstration that the main body axes are set up by two independent sets of genes, both maternal and zygotic, the identification of the bicoid morphogen responsible for pattern formation in the antero-posterior axis, and the discovery of the gap, pair rule and segment polarity classes of genes. These discoveries have provided quite new insights into the mechanism of development. |