Hox cluster disintegration with persistent anteroposterior order of expression in Oikopleura dioica

Hee-Chan Seo, Rolf Brudvik Edvardsen, Anne Dorthea Maeland, Marianne Bjordal, Marit Flo Jensen, Anette Hansen, Mette Flaat, Jean Weissenbach, Hans Lehrach, Patrick Wincker, Richard Reinhardt and Daniel Chourrout ()
Additional contact information
Hee-Chan Seo: Sars Centre for Marine Molecular Biology, Bergen High Technology Centre
Rolf Brudvik Edvardsen: Sars Centre for Marine Molecular Biology, Bergen High Technology Centre
Anne Dorthea Maeland: Sars Centre for Marine Molecular Biology, Bergen High Technology Centre
Marianne Bjordal: Sars Centre for Marine Molecular Biology, Bergen High Technology Centre
Marit Flo Jensen: Sars Centre for Marine Molecular Biology, Bergen High Technology Centre
Anette Hansen: Sars Centre for Marine Molecular Biology, Bergen High Technology Centre
Mette Flaat: Sars Centre for Marine Molecular Biology, Bergen High Technology Centre
Jean Weissenbach: Genoscope-Centre National de Sequencage and CNRS UMR-8030
Hans Lehrach: Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics
Patrick Wincker: Genoscope-Centre National de Sequencage and CNRS UMR-8030
Richard Reinhardt: Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics
Daniel Chourrout: Sars Centre for Marine Molecular Biology, Bergen High Technology Centre

Nature, 2004, vol. 431, issue 7004, 67-71

Abstract: Abstract Tunicate embryos and larvae have small cell numbers and simple anatomical features in comparison with other chordates, including vertebrates. Although they branch near the base of chordate phylogenetic trees1, their degree of divergence from the common chordate ancestor remains difficult to evaluate. Here we show that the tunicate Oikopleura dioica has a complement of nine Hox genes in which all central genes are lacking but a full vertebrate-like set of posterior genes is present. In contrast to all bilaterians studied so far, Hox genes are not clustered in the Oikopleura genome. Their expression occurs mostly in the tail, with some tissue preference, and a strong partition of expression domains in the nerve cord, in the notochord and in the muscle. In each tissue of the tail, the anteroposterior order of Hox gene expression evokes spatial collinearity, with several alterations. We propose a relationship between the Hox cluster breakdown, the separation of Hox expression domains, and a transition to a determinative mode of development.

Date: 2004
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DOI: 10.1038/nature02709

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