The developmental mutant has a single nucleotide deletion in the gene .

The mutation was previously identified in a FLP/FRT screen of chromosome 2R for conditional growth regulators. Here we report the phenotypic characterization and genetic mapping of by undergraduate students participating in Fly-CURE, a pedagogical program that teaches the science of genetics through a classroom research experience. We find that creation of cell clones in the developing eye-antennal imaginal disc causes a headless adult phenotype, suggestive of both autonomous and non-autonomous effects on cell growth or viability.