Around the start of the 20th century Thomas Morgan Hunt started working with Drosophila melanogaster to try and create inheritable mutations. The first mutation he successfully isolated was a white eyed fly (Drosophila normally have red eyes). This gene was named white after the mutant phenotype.

The convention of naming the gene after the mutant phenotype continued but over the decades some of the genes have been given rather interesting or humorous names. These serve as the inspiration for this comic. Back to the Cast Page