PUBLICATION

Origins of anteroposterior patterning and Hox gene regulation during chordate evolution

Authors
Schilling, T.F., and Knight, R.D.
ID
ZDB-PUB-011025-8
Date
2001
Source
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences   356(1414): 1599-1613 (Review)
Registered Authors
Schilling, Tom
Keywords
Hox; retinoic acid; zebrafish; lamprey; amphioxus; ascidian
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Avian Proteins*
  • Biological Evolution*
  • Body Patterning/genetics*
  • Chordata, Nonvertebrate/embryology
  • Chordata, Nonvertebrate/physiology*
  • DNA-Binding Proteins/genetics
  • DNA-Binding Proteins/metabolism
  • Early Growth Response Protein 2
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental*
  • Helminth Proteins*
  • Homeodomain Proteins/genetics*
  • Homeodomain Proteins/metabolism
  • Maf Transcription Factors
  • Mesencephalon/embryology
  • Mesencephalon/physiology
  • Oncogene Proteins*
  • Otx Transcription Factors
  • Rhombencephalon/embryology
  • Rhombencephalon/physiology
  • Transcription Factors/genetics
  • Transcription Factors/metabolism
  • Tretinoin/physiology
  • Zebrafish Proteins*
PubMed
11604126 Full text @ Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond., Series B
Abstract
All chordates share a basic body plan and many common features of early development. Anteroposterior (AP) regions of the vertebrate neural tube are specified by a combinatorial pattern of Hox gene expression that is conserved in urochordates and cephalochordates. Another primitive feature of Hox gene regulation in all chordates is a sensitivity to retinoic acid during embryogenesis, and recent developmental genetic studies have demonstrated the essential role for retinoid signalling in vertebrates. Two AP regions develop within the chordate neural tube during gastrulation: an anterior 'forebrain-midbrain' region specified by Otx genes and a posterior 'hindbrain-spinal cord' region specified by Hox genes. A third, intermediate region corresponding to the midbrain or midbrain-hindbrain boundary develops at around the same time in vertebrates, and comparative data suggest that this was also present in the chordate ancestor. Within the anterior part of the Hox-expressing domain, however, vertebrates appear to have evolved unique roles for segmentation genes, such as Krox-20, in patterning the hindbrain. Genetic approaches in mammals and zebrafish, coupled with molecular phylogenetic studies in ascidians, amphioxus and lampreys, promise to reveal how the complex mechanisms that specify the vertebrate body plan may have arisen from a relatively simple set of ancestral developmental components.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping