Department of Developmental Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Dev Dyn. 2012 Oct;241(10):1637-49. doi: 10.1002/dvdy.23853. Epub 2012 Sep 4.
Hox genes are key players in AP patterning of the vertebrate body plan and are necessary for organogenesis. Several studies provide evidence for the role Hox genes play during kidney development and especially regarding metanephros initiation and formation. However, the role Hox genes play during early stages of kidney development is largely unknown. A recent study in our lab revealed the role Hoxb4 plays in conferring the competence of intermediate mesodermal cells to respond to kidney inductive signals and express early kidney regulators.
As a first step in understanding the role Hox genes play in setting the formation of the pronephros morphogenetic field and the expression of early regulators of kidney development, we studied in detail the expression pattern of 10 Hox genes in relation to the 6th somite axial level, the anterior sharp border of the kidney field. Despite the idea of spatial co-linearity as exemplified in the Hox gene expression pattern in late developmental stages, a very dynamic spatio-temporal expression of these genes was found in early stages.
Since mesodermal patterning occurs at gastrula stages, the relevance of a "Hox code" at early stages is questioned in this study.
Hox 基因是脊椎动物体节模式的 AP 模式形成的关键参与者，也是器官发生所必需的。有几项研究为 Hox 基因在肾脏发育过程中发挥的作用提供了证据，特别是在肾原基的起始和形成方面。然而，Hox 基因在肾脏发育早期阶段所起的作用在很大程度上仍是未知的。我们实验室最近的一项研究揭示了 Hoxb4 在赋予中胚层细胞对肾脏诱导信号做出反应并表达早期肾脏调节因子的能力方面所起的作用。
为了深入了解 Hox 基因在设置头肾形态发生场形成和肾脏发育早期调节因子表达中的作用，我们详细研究了 10 个 Hox 基因在与第 6 体节轴水平（肾脏场的前锐利边界）的关系中的表达模式。尽管在晚期发育阶段的 Hox 基因表达模式中存在空间共线性的观点，但在早期阶段发现了这些基因非常动态的时空表达。
由于中胚层模式发生在原肠胚阶段，因此在本研究中对早期“Hox 密码”的相关性提出了质疑。
