Dataset Information

Analysis of a complete homeobox gene repertoire: implications for the evolution of diversity.

ABSTRACT: The completion of sequencing projects for various organisms has already advanced our insight into the evolution of entire genomes and the role of gene duplications. One multigene family that has served as a paradigm for the study of gene duplications and molecular evolution is the family of homeodomain-encoding genes. I present here an analysis of the homeodomain repertoire of an entire genome, that of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, in relation to our current knowledge of these genes in plants, arthropods, and mammals. A methodological framework is developed that proposes approaches for the analysis of homeodomain repertoires and multigene families in general.

SUBMITTER: Kappen C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC18260 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Analysis of a complete homeobox gene repertoire: implications for the evolution of diversity.

Kappen C C

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20000401 9

The completion of sequencing projects for various organisms has already advanced our insight into the evolution of entire genomes and the role of gene duplications. One multigene family that has served as a paradigm for the study of gene duplications and molecular evolution is the family of homeodomain-encoding genes. I present here an analysis of the homeodomain repertoire of an entire genome, that of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, in relation to our current knowledge of these genes in pl ...[more]

PMID: 10781048

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Project description:BackgroundLIM homeobox (Lhx) transcription factors are unique to the animal lineage and have patterning roles during embryonic development in flies, nematodes and vertebrates, with a conserved role in specifying neuronal identity. Though genes of this family have been reported in a sponge and a cnidarian, the expression patterns and functions of the Lhx family during development in non-bilaterian phyla are not known.ResultsWe identified Lhx genes in two cnidarians and a placozoan and report the expression of Lhx genes during embryonic development in Nematostella and the demosponge Amphimedon. Members of the six major LIM homeobox subfamilies are represented in the genomes of the starlet sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis, and the placozoan Trichoplax adhaerens. The hydrozoan cnidarian, Hydra magnipapillata, has retained four of the six Lhx subfamilies, but apparently lost two others. Only three subfamilies are represented in the haplosclerid demosponge Amphimedon queenslandica. A tandem cluster of three Lhx genes of different subfamilies and a gene containing two LIM domains in the genome of T. adhaerens (an animal without any neurons) indicates that Lhx subfamilies were generated by tandem duplication. This tandem cluster in Trichoplax is likely a remnant of the original chromosomal context in which Lhx subfamilies first appeared. Three of the six Trichoplax Lhx genes are expressed in animals in laboratory culture, as are all Lhx genes in Hydra. Expression patterns of Nematostella Lhx genes correlate with neural territories in larval and juvenile polyp stages. In the aneural demosponge, A. queenslandica, the three Lhx genes are expressed widely during development, including in cells that are associated with the larval photosensory ring.ConclusionsThe Lhx family expanded and diversified early in animal evolution, with all six subfamilies already diverged prior to the cnidarian-placozoan-bilaterian last common ancestor. In Nematostella, Lhx gene expression is correlated with neural territories in larval and juvenile polyp stages. This pattern is consistent with a possible role in patterning the Nematostella nervous system. We propose a scenario in which Lhx genes play a homologous role in neural patterning across eumetazoans.

Dataset Information

Analysis of a complete homeobox gene repertoire: implications for the evolution of diversity.

Publications

Analysis of a complete homeobox gene repertoire: implications for the evolution of diversity.

Similar Datasets

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