Changes in Hox genes’ structure and function during the evolution of the squamate body plan

Nicolas Di-Poï, Juan I. Montoya-Burgos, Hilary Miller, Olivier Pourquié, Michel C. Milinkovitch and Denis Duboule ()
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Nicolas Di-Poï: National Research Center ‘Frontiers in Genetics’, University of Geneva, Sciences III, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
Juan I. Montoya-Burgos: National Research Center ‘Frontiers in Genetics’, University of Geneva, Sciences III, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
Hilary Miller: School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington
Olivier Pourquié: Howard Hughes Medical Institute,
Michel C. Milinkovitch: National Research Center ‘Frontiers in Genetics’, University of Geneva, Sciences III, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
Denis Duboule: National Research Center ‘Frontiers in Genetics’, University of Geneva, Sciences III, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland

Nature, 2010, vol. 464, issue 7285, 99-103

Abstract: Hox genes key to diversity Hox genes play a central role in the specification of structures along the body axis of all animals, and modifications in Hox expression patterns parallel the diversity of the vertebrate body plan. A study of Hox organization in squamate reptiles — the lizards and snakes — shows that the Hox clusters have unexpectedly accumulated transposable elements, reflecting extensive genomic rearrangements of coding and non-coding regulatory regions. Comparative expression analyses between two species showing different axial skeletons, the corn snake and the whiptail lizard, reveals major alterations in Hox13 and Hox10 expression coincident with the expansion of the caudal and thoracic regions of the developing snake embryo. The alteration of Hox cluster structure and function may therefore reflect the extensive morphological radiation observed in this group.

Date: 2010
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DOI: 10.1038/nature08789

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