www.ibiology.org/development-...
Following fertilization, the single celled embryo undergoes a number of mitotic divisions to produce a ball of cells called a blastula or blastoderm. Although these cells are all genetically identical, they gradually begin to express different gene products that reflect the regions of the adult body they will form. In my first lecture I discuss how these initial patterns of gene expression arise. In Drosophila, a maternally supplied transcription factor called Bicoid plays a particularly important role. Bcd RNA is anchored at the anterior end of the egg but is only translated after fertilization. From that anterior source, Bcd protein is thought to diffuse through the egg, establishing a concentration gradient that activates different genes at different thresholds. See more at www.ibioseminars.org