A fly geneticist understands how genes make organisms work pretty much the way a kid plays with toys. By pulling them apart piece-by-piece and observing what goes wrong. That way we can assign a function to every gene. The flies without-a-piece are called mutants and we name mutants as a kid would do too: after their appearance. Say you are looking at a mutant fly that has no wings. Well the mutated gene must do something during the development of the wings! How do you call that mutant fly? Wingless, of course! No eyes? Big deal: Eyeless. White eyes? well, duh, White! Sometimes you use your language and it might not be English: Fused embryonic segments: Fushi Tarazu; Japanese for "fused segments". Too many hairs? Tout Volu; French for "hairy". Talking about kids and toys, one pertaining example is the Ken and Barbie mutant that.... lack external genitals! This system springs from necessity rather than delight because we obviously break the toy and name the mutant to tell the function of the gene. Following this lead we might find more about the gene and want to rename the gene appropriately. Usually the old name resists because of its imagery.
Here’s a little game: Following are images of five different mutant forms of Me. Being a fly geneticists I have named them after their appearance. Can you tell what the affected gene does? Unleash your fantasy. Suggestions from other fly geneticists are most welcome.
1. Belzebut Me
2.Elvish Me
3.TomHanksy Me and G.
4. Polyphemus Me
5. Area51 Me
FYI: All these mutant Me have been generated with the contribution of Steve Jobs. All new Macs now come with a webcam (isight) and a software to run it (photobooth) that allows to add to the snapshot the weirdest effects... This sort of iSight on a bad trip is the living proof that the Apple CEO must have been heavily into dope in his days (still is?).
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