NEW YORK, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- New York University scientists have found a system by which a random choice between two cellular fates in a fruit fly's eye becomes firmly established.
Surprisingly, the biologists said, the genes involved are known "tumor suppressor genes," that is genes inactivated in some forms of cancer due to uncontrolled cell proliferation.
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Because the fly eye is highly amenable to genetic analysis, the findings might help decipher the mechanisms by which genes that control cell proliferation and cell growth are themselves regulated.
The research, led by Claude Desplan in NYU's Center for Developmental Genetics, appears in the journal Cell.
