logo Evolutionarily conserved developmental pathways  Many
developmental pathways found in Drosophila have been conserved,
in the evolutionary sense. This means that across a wide variety
of animal species, pathways sharing a common function, also
share a common origin in the biological past.  This page is
currently under construction; it now lists over 40
evolutionarily conserved developmental pathways. The pathways
are named according to the processes they govern, and not by the
names of the genes involved: for example, "lateral inhibition"
rather than "the Notch pathway." Inevitably, there will be cases
where the function is less well understood: hence, "the Wingless
pathway." More pathways will be added in the near future.
Information and references for homologs of genes active in these
pathways are found in the Evolutionary homologs section for each
gene.  Evolutionarily conserved developmental pathways  Activin
signaling pathway - Required in Drosophila in imaginal discs and
brain and in vertebrates thr