Background The heads of annelids (earthworms, polychaetes, and others) and arthropods
(insects, myriapods, spiders, and others) and the arthropod-related onychophorans (velvet …

Several highly conserved genes play a role in anterior neural plate patterning of vertebrates
and in head and brain patterning of insects. However, head involution in Drosophila has …

The head gap genes orthodenticle (otd), empty spiracles (ems) and buttonhead (btd) are
required for metamerization and segment specification in Drosophila. We asked whether the …

Wnt/β-catenin and hedgehog (Hh) signaling are essential for transmitting signals across cell
membranes in animal embryos. Early patterning of the principal insect model, Drosophila …

Abstract Background The Sp-family of transcription factors are evolutionarily conserved zinc
finger proteins present in many animal species. The orthology of the Sp genes in different …

The insect upper lip—the labrum—is a lobe‐like structure anterior to the mouth opening.
Whether the labrum represents a fused pair of segmental appendages or evolved …

Insects and other arthropods utilise external sensory structures for mechanosensory,
olfactory, and gustatory reception. These sense organs have characteristic shapes related to …

Background RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful tool to study gene function in organisms
that are not amenable to classical forward genetics. Hence, together with the ease of …

Segment formation in the long germ insect Drosophila is dominated by overlapping gap
gene domains in the syncytial blastoderm. In the short germ beetle Tribolium castaneum …

The insect head is composed of several segments. During embryonic development, the
segments fuse to form a rigid head capsule where obvious segmental boundaries are …