The fushi tarazu gene is also known as simply the ftz gene. It is a gene found in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Normal fruit fly embryos look like a series of stacked discs; these disclike structures are called segments. Each segment eventually develops into specific adult fly structures (wings, antennae, legs, eyes, etc.) Flies which have a mutant form of the ftz gene are missing every other segment.

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From the BioTech Dictionary at http://biotech.icmb.utexas.edu/. For further information see the BioTech homenode.