Chai Chun-Li, Zhang Ze, Huang Fei-Fei, Wang Xian-Yan, Yu Quan-You, Liu Bin-Bin, Tian Tian, Xia Qing-You, Lu Cheng, Xiang Zhong-Huai
The Key Sericultural Laboratory of Agricultural Ministry, College of Biotechnology, Institute of Sericulture and Systems Biology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
Insect Biochem Mol Biol. 2008 Dec;38(12):1111-20. doi: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2008.06.008.
Homeobox genes encode transcriptional factors that play crucial roles in a variety of developmental pathways from unicellular to multicellular eukaryotes. We have identified 102 homeobox genes in the typical insect of Lepidoptera, Bombyx mori, based on the newly assembled genome sequence with 9X coverage. These identified homeobox genes were categorized into nine classes including at least 74 families. The available ESTs and microarray data at present confirmed that more than half of them were expressed during silkworm developmental processes. Orthologs of pb, zen and ftz were newly identified in the Bombyx Hox cluster on chromosome 6. Interestingly, a special group of 12 tandemly duplicated homeobox genes was found located between Bmpb and Bmzen in the Bombyx Hox cluster, suggesting that Hox cluster might have experienced a lineage-specific expansion in the silkworm. A detailed analysis on genome data reveals that a split exists between Bmlab and Bmpb. Our data provide valuable information for future research on the development and evolution of silkworm.
同源异型框基因编码转录因子，这些转录因子在从单细胞到多细胞真核生物的各种发育途径中发挥着关键作用。基于新组装的覆盖度为9倍的基因组序列，我们在典型的鳞翅目昆虫家蚕中鉴定出了102个同源异型框基因。这些鉴定出的同源异型框基因被分为9类，包括至少74个家族。目前可用的EST和微阵列数据证实，其中一半以上的基因在家蚕发育过程中表达。在家蚕6号染色体上的Hox簇中，新鉴定出了pb、zen和ftz的直系同源基因。有趣的是，在家蚕Hox簇中发现了一组由12个串联重复的同源异型框基因组成的特殊基因群，它们位于Bmpb和Bmzen之间，这表明Hox簇可能在蚕中经历了谱系特异性的扩张。对基因组数据的详细分析表明，Bmlab和Bmpb之间存在分裂。我们的数据为今后家蚕发育和进化的研究提供了有价值的信息。
