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Homeotic transformation of the occipital bones of the skull by ectopic expression of a homeobox gene

Nature volume 359, pages 835–841 (1992)Cite this article

Abstract

MURINEHox genes have been postulated to play a role in patterning of the embryonic body plan1–3. Gene disruption studies have suggested that for a given Hox complex, patterning of cell identity along the antero–posterior axis is directed by the more 'posterior' (having a more posterior rostral boundary of expression) Hox proteins expressed in a given cell4–6. This supports the 'posterior prevalence' model2, which also predicts that ectopic expression of a given Hox gene would result in altered structure only in regions anterior to its normal domain of expression. To test this model further, we have expressed the Hox-4.2 gene more rostrally than its normal mesoderm anterior boundary of expression, which is at the level of the first cervical somites. This ectopic expression results in a homeotic transformation of the occipital bones towards a more posterior phenotype into structures that resemble cervical vertebrae, whereas it has no effect in regions that normally express Hox-4.2. These results are similar to the homeotic posteriorization phenomenon generated in Drosophila by ectopic expression of genes of the homeotic complex HOM-C (refs 7–10; reviewed in ref. 3).

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Author notes

  1. Charles P. Hart

    Present address: Affymax Research Institute, 4001 Miranda Avenue, Palo Alto, California, 94304, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Génétique Moléculaire des Eucaryotes du CNRS, Unité 184 de Biologie Moléculaire et de Génie Génetique de I'lNSERM, Institut de Chimie Biologique, Faculté de Medecine, 11 rue Human, 67085, Strasbourg Cédex, France

    Thomas Lufkin, Manuel Mark, Charles P. Hart, Pascal Dollé, Marianne LeMeur & Pierre Chambon

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  1. Thomas Lufkin
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  2. Manuel Mark
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  5. Marianne LeMeur
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  6. Pierre Chambon
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Lufkin, T., Mark, M., Hart, C. et al. Homeotic transformation of the occipital bones of the skull by ectopic expression of a homeobox gene. Nature 359, 835–841 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1038/359835a0

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