Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Comparative chromosome mapping of a conserved homoeo box region in mouse and human

Abstract

Specific genes are assumed to regulate pattern formation in the mammalian embryo, but as yet none has been identified unequivocally. It is possible that such genes in mammals may be identified by virtue of a conserved coding sequence, because many of the Drosophila melanogaster homoeotic and segmentation genes, which have crucial roles in the regulation of segmental pattern formation during embryonic development1,2, contain a 180-base pair (bp) DNA sequence, the homoeo box3–5, and that sequences homologous to the Drosophila homoeo box are also present in 6–10 copies in higher animals, including mammals4–8. Although the assumption that the homoeo box identifies genes responsible for pattern formation in mammals remains to be validated, it is a particularly attractive hypothesis given the strong conservation of homoeo boxes over vast evolutionary distances. Here we report the localization of a human homoeo box region7, previously cloned and shown to contain two homoeo boxes within a sequence of 5-kilobases (kb), to the long arm of chromosome 17. We show that two single-copy homoeo box-flanking probes derived from this region strongly hybridize to single-copy restriction fragments in mouse genomic DNA and that these conserved homoeo box-flanking sequences map to mouse chromosome 11. This may be significant as several genes that map to chromosome 17 in human also map to chromosome 11 in the mouse, implying that a segment of mouse chromosome 11 is homologous to a region of human chromosome 17 (ref. 9). Taken together, these data suggest that the homoeo box region detected with our probes is highly conserved in human and mouse.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Ouweneel, W. J. Adv. Genet. 18, 179–248 (1976).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Nusslein-Volhard, C. & Wieschaus, E. Nature 287, 795–801 (1980).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. McGinnis, W., Levine, M., Hafen, E., Kuroiwa, A. & Gehring, W. J. Nature 308, 428–433 (1984).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. McGinnis, W., Garber, R. L., Wirz, J., Kuroiwa, A. & Gehring, W. J. Cell 37, 403–408 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Scott, M. P. & Weiner, A. J. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 81, 4115–4119 (1984).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Carrasco, A. E., McGinnis, W., Gehring, W. J. & De Robertis, E. D. Cell 37, 409–414 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Levine, M., Rubin, G. M. & Tjian, R. Cell 38, 667–673 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. McGinnis, W., Hart, C. P., Gehring, W. J. & Ruddle, F. H. Cell 38, 675–680 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Roderick, T. H. et al. Cytogenet. Cell Genet. 37, 321–339 (1984).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Lebo, R. V. et al. Science 225, 57–59 (1984).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Lebo, R. V. et al. Hum. Genet. (in the press).

  12. Cox, D. R., Sawicki, J. A., Yee, D., Apella, E. & Epstein, C. J. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 79, 1930–1934 (1982).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Nishioka, Y. & Leder, P. Cell 18, 875–882 (1979).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Green, M. C. (ed.) Genetic Variants and Strains of the Laboratory Mouse (Fischer, New York, 1981).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Joyner, A., Lebo, R., Kan, Y. et al. Comparative chromosome mapping of a conserved homoeo box region in mouse and human. Nature 314, 173–175 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/314173a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/314173a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing