Article
- The EMBO Journal (2003) 22, 262 - 269
- doi:10.1093/emboj/cdg029
Subject Categories:
Retinoids regulate the anterior expression boundaries of 5' Hoxb genes in posterior hindbrain
Tony Oosterveen1, Karen Niederreither2,3, Pascal Dollé2, Pierre Chambon2, Frits Meijlink1 and Jacqueline Deschamps1
- Hubrecht Laboratory, The Netherlands Institute of Developmental Biology, Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, CNRS/INSERM/ULP/Collège de France, BP 163, 67404 Illkirch Cedex, CU de Strasbourg, France
- Present address: Departments of Medicine and Molecular and Cellular Biology, Center for Cardiovascular Development, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, USA
Correspondence to:
Jacqueline Deschamps, E-mail: Jacqueli@niob.knaw.nl
Received 10 July 2002; Accepted 19 November 2002; Revised 13 November 2002
Abstract
We describe the regulatory interactions that cause anterior extension of the mouse 5' Hoxb expression domains from spinal cord levels to their definitive boundaries in the posterior hindbrain between embryonic day E10 and E11.5. This anterior expansion is retinoid dependent since it does not occur in mouse embryos deficient for the retinoic acid-synthesizing enzyme retinaldehyde dehydrogenase 2. A retinoic acid response element (RARE) was identified downstream of Hoxb5 and shown to be essential for expression of Hoxb5 and Hoxb8 reporter transgenes in the anterior neural tube. The spatio-temporal activity of this element overlaps with rostral extension of the expression domain of endogenous Hoxb5, Hoxb6 and Hoxb8 into the posterior hindbrain. The RARE and surrounding sequences are found at homologous positions in the human, mouse and zebrafish genome, which supports an evolutionarily conserved regulatory function.
Keywords:
- mouse Hox genes,
- posterior hindbrain patterning,
- retinoic acid response,
- transcriptional regulation
