scholarly journals Hox Genes Regulation During Vertebrate Development and Evolution

2017 ◽  
Vol 145 ◽  
pp. S13-S14
Author(s):  
Fabrice Darbellay ◽  
Joszef Zakany ◽  
Bénédicte Mascrez ◽  
Denis Duboule
Keyword(s):  
Hox Genes ◽  
Vertebrate Development ◽  
Development And Evolution

Hox genes in digit development and evolution

1999 ◽  
Vol 296 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
József Zákány ◽  
Denis Duboule
Keyword(s):  
Hox Genes ◽  
Development And Evolution

Hox genes in vertebrate development

Cell ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robb Krumlauf
Keyword(s):  
Hox Genes ◽  
Vertebrate Development

scholarly journals Why a Constant Number of Vertebrae? - Digital Control of Segmental Identity During Vertebrate Development

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej Kudlicki
Keyword(s):  
Hox Genes ◽  
Regulatory Element ◽  
Chromatin Accessibility ◽  
Sequence Information ◽  
Vertebrate Development ◽  
Mammalian Development ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
Number Of Segments ◽  
Segmental Identity ◽  
Digital Nature

It is not understood how the numbers and identities of vertebrae are controlled during mammalian development. The remarkable robustness and conservation of segmental numbers may suggest a digital nature of the underlying process. Here I propose a mechanism that allows cells to obtain and store the segmental information in digital form, and to produce a pattern of chromatin accessibility that in turn regulates Hox gene expression specific to the metameric segment. The model requires that a regulatory element be present such that the number of occurrences of the motif between two consecutive Hox genes equals the number of segments under the control of the anterior gene. This is true for the recently discovered HRC3 motif, associated with histone modifications and developmental genes. The finding not only allows correctly predicting the numbers of segments using only sequence information, but also resolves the 40-year-old enigma of the function of temporal and spatial collinearity of Hox genes. The logic of the mechanism is illustrated in an animated video: https://youtu.be/4a3XOQ7Lz28. I also discuss how different aspects of the proposed mechanism can be tested experimentally.

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