Center for Developmental Genetics, Department of Biology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA.
Insect Mol Biol. 2010 Feb;19 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):109-20. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2583.2009.00921.x.
Pax genes are a group of critical developmental transcriptional regulators in both invertebrates and vertebrates, characterized by the presence of a paired DNA-binding domain. Pax proteins also often contain an octapeptide motif and a C-terminal homeodomain. The genome of Nasonia vitripennis (Hymenoptera) has recently become available, and analysis of this genome alongside Apis mellifera allowed us to contribute to the phylogeny of this gene family in insects. Nasonia, a parasitic wasp, has independently evolved a similar mode of development to that of the well-studied Drosophila, making it an excellent model system for comparative studies of developmental gene networks. We report the characterization of the seven Nasonia Pax genes. We describe their genomic organization, and the embryonic expression of three of them, and uncover wider conservation of the octapeptide motif than previously described.
Pax 基因是在无脊椎动物和脊椎动物中一组关键的发育转录调控因子，其特征是存在配对的 DNA 结合结构域。Pax 蛋白通常还含有一个八肽基序和一个 C 末端同源结构域。丽蝇蛹集金小蜂（膜翅目）的基因组最近已经公布，对该基因组与蜜蜂的分析使我们能够为昆虫中这个基因家族的系统发育做出贡献。丽蝇蛹集金小蜂是一种寄生蜂，它独立进化出了与研究得很好的果蝇相似的发育模式，使其成为发育基因网络比较研究的优秀模式系统。我们报告了 7 个丽蝇蛹集金小蜂 Pax 基因的特征。我们描述了它们的基因组组织，以及其中 3 个基因的胚胎表达，并揭示了以前描述的八肽基序的更广泛保守性。
