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Homeobox, HOX, regulatin’ genes

This is about as geeky as it gets, but since a couple of the genes I study are homeobox genes, one of which is a HOX gene, one of which is not, I found this hilarious:

There you go: All you need to know about homeobox genes if you’re not an expert in them.

Hat tip to Bioephemera.

By Orac

Orac is the nom de blog of a humble surgeon/scientist who has an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his copious verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few probably will. That surgeon is otherwise known as David Gorski.

That this particular surgeon has chosen his nom de blog based on a rather cranky and arrogant computer shaped like a clear box of blinking lights that he originally encountered when he became a fan of a 35 year old British SF television show whose special effects were renowned for their BBC/Doctor Who-style low budget look, but whose stories nonetheless resulted in some of the best, most innovative science fiction ever televised, should tell you nearly all that you need to know about Orac. (That, and the length of the preceding sentence.)

DISCLAIMER:: The various written meanderings here are the opinions of Orac and Orac alone, written on his own time. They should never be construed as representing the opinions of any other person or entity, especially Orac's cancer center, department of surgery, medical school, or university. Also note that Orac is nonpartisan; he is more than willing to criticize the statements of anyone, regardless of of political leanings, if that anyone advocates pseudoscience or quackery. Finally, medical commentary is not to be construed in any way as medical advice.

To contact Orac: [email protected]

7 replies on “Homeobox, HOX, regulatin’ genes”

I forwarded this to all my professorial friends last week, and every one of them has added it to their Dev Bio syllabi. I also posted it on my Facebook page, to provide a counterpoint to another friend’s posting of a historical video.

I see now that I should have called my thesis “Here we go in the embryo – asymmetry. From the egg sac, holla back, regulatin’ genes; Evo devo regulatin’ genes” as that would have been much cooler than “The role of Ras in dorsoventral patterning and morphogenesis, and the developmental mechanism of eggshell evolution in Drosophila”

Fantastic. I like how they ended with the antennopedia mutants.

I should have called my thesis “Here we go in the embryo – asymmetry. From the egg sac, holla back, regulatin’ genes; Evo devo regulatin’ genes”

LOL!

Not only is it brilliant, it reminded me of what I need to add to the grant I’m writing…

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