Aniridia is a human condition in which the eye has no iris. The protein encoded by the gene responsible for aniridia is very nearly identical to the protein product of the fly Eyeless protein. What experiment could provide evidence that the two genes are functionally equivalent?
A) Introduce the aniridia mutation into Drosophila embryos to look for iris formation.
B) Sequence the Eyeless and aniridia DNA sequences and regulators.
C) Use the Eyeless mRNA as a probe in other invertebrate and non- mammalian species.
D) Introduce the mouse aniridia wild- type sequence into the fly egg to see whether mouse eyes develop.
E) Replace the fly eyeless gene with the coding sequence of the mouse aniridia gene. Look for rescue compared to an eyeless gene mutant.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Introducing the mouse aniridia gene into a fly model where the eyeless gene is mutated and observing rescue (normal eye development) would directly test the functional equivalence of the two genes. If the mouse gene can compensate for the loss of the fly gene, it suggests they have similar functions.

Aniridia Is a Human Condition in Which the Eye Has