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The bicoid protein is a positive regulator of hunchback transcription in the early Drosophila embryo

Abstract

A gradient in concentration of the protein product of the bicoid gene is a determinant of the anterior–posterior axis of Drosophila embryos. By binding upstream of the segmentation gene hunchback the bicoid protein controls its transcription, thereby translating maternal pattern-generating information into differential activation of zygotic gene expression.

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Driever, W., Nüsslein-Volhard, C. The bicoid protein is a positive regulator of hunchback transcription in the early Drosophila embryo. Nature 337, 138–143 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/337138a0

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