Question

In your Drosophila laboratory, you find a larva that is missing segments Lb, T1, T2, and T3. This larva probably has a mutation in a ___________ gene.

A. pair-rule
B. gap
C. maternal effect
D. segment-polarity
E. gap or segment-polarity

Answer 1

A larva in a Drosophila laboratory missing Lb, T1, T2, and T3 most likely has a mutation in a gap gene, which is crucial for early segmentation in development.

Step-by-step explanation:

In a Drosophila laboratory, finding a larva missing segments Lb, T1, T2, and T3 suggests a mutation in a gap gene. Gap genes are essential in establishing broad regions of the segmented body plan in early embryonic development. When these genes have mutations, they can cause the loss of contiguous larval segments. Therefore, the most accurate choice for the type of gene mutated is gap genes, rather than pair-rule, maternal effect, or segment-polarity genes, which affect different aspects of the larval segmentation process. As for the case where a student finds two genes likely to segregate together based on a linkage map, it would depend on the specific gene loci and map units presented in the linkage map provided.