zygoma:

“Most cases of cyclopia are not, however, caused by anything the mother did (or did not do) during her pregnancy. Mutations in at least four and perhaps as many as twelve human genes also cause some form of holoprosencephaly. One of these genes encodes a signalling protein called sonic hedgehog. This molecule received its name in the early 1980s when a mutant fruit fly was discovered whose maggot progeny had a surplus of bristles covering their tiny bodies. ‘Hedgehog’ was the obvious name for the gene, nd when a related gene was discovered in the vertebrates, ‘sonic hedgehog’ seemed the natural choice to a postgraduate student who perhaps loved his gaming-console too much.”

Mutants: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body, Armand Marie Leroi

(via vqlyqirl)