Leukaemia/Drosophila homology

A human complementary DNA clone, designated AML1 because it marks a subtype of acute myeloid leukemia, is the homologue of runt, one of a group of pair-rule genes that determines morphogenesis in the fly Drosophila melanogaster. The area of homology linking the Drosophila and human polypeptide sequences extends to the conserved exon/intron boundary. Further research is needed to establish AML1's effect on human development.