Segmental determination in Drosophila central nervous system

We have analyzed the control of two segment-specific features in the central nervous system of Drosophila larvae. One of them is present only in the thoracic ganglia of the larva, where it represents the anlage of the adult leg neuromeres; the other is found in the first abdominal, as well as in the thoracic, ganglia. We show that mutations within the bithorax complex have parallel but independent effects on these neural structures and on the larval epidermis. We also show that the central nervous system is very sensitive to mild perturbations of the bithorax complex, and in particular to haploinsufficiency.