Tiny changes in gene expression make big difference in eye size of fruit flies

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: 3D reconstruction and ommatidia size measurements from SRμCT data of female D. simulans (left) and D. mauritiana (right). Facet areas of the ommatidia highlighted in the antero-ventral (green), central (purple) and dorsal-posterior (blue) region of the eye are plotted in corresponding colours (far right). Ommatidia number is 996 for the D. simulans y, v, f and 1018 for the D. mauritiana TAM16. Scale bar is 100 μm. Credit: BMC Biology (2025). DOI: 10.1186/s12915-025-02136-8 An international team of scientists has discovered that tiny changes in the timing of the expression of a single gene can lead to big differences in eye size. Gene expression is the process by which the information encoded in a gene is turned into a functional output, for example, the production of a protein. Researchers including Profe ... Read full article.