The phenotype of engrailed mutations in the antenna of Drosophila.

The eye-antenna imaginal disc of Drosophila is subdivided into anterior and posterior compartments and it is expected therefore that the engrailed gene would be locally required in the posterior compartment. Here we describe the phenotype of engrailed mutations in the antenna. Clones of cells which were mutant for en1/enC2 were produced in wild-type antennae by mitotic recombination. The clones showed the typical syndrome of cells mutant for engrailed, being normal in the anterior compartment and showing partial posterior-to-anterior transformation in the posterior compartment.