The ParaHox gene cluster is an evolutionary sister of the Hox gene cluster
Abstract
Genes of the Hox cluster are restricted to the animal kingdom and play a central role in axial patterning in divergent animal phyla. Despite its evolutionary and developmental significance, the origin of the Hox gene cluster is obscure. The consensus is that a primordial Hox cluster arose by tandem gene duplication close to animal origins. Several homeobox genes with high sequence identity to Hox genes are found outside the Hox cluster and are known as 'dispersed' Hox-like genes; these genes may have been transposed away from an expanding cluster. Here we show that three of these dispersed homeobox genes form a novel gene cluster in the cephalochordate amphioxus. We argue that this 'ParaHox' gene cluster is an ancient paralogue (evolutionary sister) of the Hox gene cluster; the two gene clusters arose by duplication of a ProtoHox gene cluster. Furthermore, we show that amphioxus ParaHox genes have co-linear developmental expression patterns in anterior, middle and posterior tissues. We propose that the origin of distinct Hox and ParaHox genes by gene-cluster duplication facilitated an increase in body complexity during the Cambrian explosion.
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In bilaterians, PG-1 and Gsx participate in differentiation of the embryonic anterior endoderm.
“In bilaterians, PG-1 and Gsx genes are involved in the differentiation of the embryonic anterior endoderm (McGinnis and Krumlauf, 1992;Brooke et al., 1998).”
From Conservation of Hox/ParaHox-Related Genes in the Early Development of a Cnidarian (2001) · cites this paper as Brooke et al., 1998
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- Authors
- Brooke, N. M., Garcia-Fernàndez, J., & Holland, P. W. H.
- Affiliations
- University of Reading (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Holland, Peter W. H.
- ORCID
- Holland, Peter W. H.
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 1998-04
- Volume
- 392
- Issue
- 6679
- Pages
- 920-922
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W1555019066
- Cited by
- 468
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 14
- FWCI
- 9.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Chromosomal and Genetic Variations
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics
- Keywords
- Hox gene clusters, homeobox genes, amphioxus, cephalochordates, gene duplication, axial patterning, developmental gene expression, Cambrian explosion
- MeSH terms
- Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Central Nervous System, Chordata, Nonvertebrate, Cloning, Molecular, Digestive System, Embryo, Nonmammalian, Genes, Homeobox, Multigene Family, Genetic Linkage, Molecular Sequence Data, Nuclear Proteins, Phylogeny, Homeodomain Proteins, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, Evolution, Molecular
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