Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Oeiras, Portugal.
Dev Biol. 2010 Aug 1;344(1):7-15. doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2010.04.024. Epub 2010 May 7.
Several decades have passed since the discovery of Hox genes in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Their unique ability to regulate morphologies along the anteroposterior (AP) axis (Lewis, 1978) earned them well-deserved attention as important regulators of embryonic development. Phenotypes due to loss- and gain-of-function mutations in mouse Hox genes have revealed that the spatio-temporally controlled expression of these genes is critical for the correct morphogenesis of embryonic axial structures. Here, we review recent novel insight into the modalities of Hox protein function in imparting specific identity to anatomical regions of the vertebral column, and in controlling the emergence of these tissues concomitantly with providing them with axial identity. The control of these functions must have been intimately linked to the shaping of the body plan during evolution.
自果蝇中的 Hox 基因被发现以来,已经过去了几十年。它们沿前后轴(AP)调节形态的独特能力(Lewis,1978)使它们作为胚胎发育的重要调节因子而备受关注。由于小鼠 Hox 基因突变导致的表型失活和获得功能的突变表明,这些基因的时空调控表达对于胚胎轴向结构的正确形态发生至关重要。在这里,我们回顾了最近关于 Hox 蛋白功能的新见解,这些见解赋予了脊柱解剖区域的特定身份,并控制了这些组织的出现,同时赋予了它们轴向身份。这些功能的控制必须与进化过程中身体形态的塑造密切相关。