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Developmental biology

Clocks and Hox

Nature volume 412, pages 780–781 (2001)Cite this article

Segmentation is a key feature of many animals. New molecular studies add to our understanding of how vertebrate segments form and how this process is linked to the genes that make each segment unique.

In vertebrates, the spine, ribcage and breastbone are derived from repeated blocks of tissue that begin as identical units in early development and are then modified into unique shapes with different purposes. Some segments, for example, allow the head to move; some are sites of attachment for the muscles involved in breathing; and some protect the organs in the chest. To produce such a body plan, there must be mechanisms both for generating the segments and for giving each its distinct identity. For vertebrates, the task of producing repeated units seems to be controlled partly by a molecular clock in the unsegmented paraxial mesoderm — the tissue from which the units arise. The identity of the units is controlled by the differential expression of genes known as Hox genes in a nested pattern from the head to the tail1. Writing in Cell, Dubrulle et al.2 and Zákány et al.3 suggest that these processes are causally connected.

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Figure 1: The 'clock-and-wavefront model' of segmentation and patterning in vertebrates.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, USA

    Clifford J. Tabin

  2. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, 77030, Texas, USA

    Randy L. Johnson

Authors
  1. Clifford J. Tabin
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  2. Randy L. Johnson
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Tabin, C., Johnson, R. Clocks and Hox. Nature 412, 780–781 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35090677

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