[Genetic control of segmentation processes in axial structures in vertebrates].

The processes of segmentation of axial structures in vertebrates during early embryonic development are reviewed. These processes include the formation of neuromeres, somitomeres, cranial ganglia, and branchial arches in the head and of neuromeres, somites, spinal ganglia, and motor nerves in the body of the embryo. The class of vertebrate homeobox genes Hox is described with respect to the arrangement of these genes in four clusters, the structural and functional similarity of paralogues in gene subfamilies, and the type of Hox gene expression in the head and body. A hypothesis concerning the existence of a genetic Hox code, determining the fate of individual segments in neuroectodermal and mesenchymal derivatives, is discussed. In the context of this hypothesis, phenotypic expression of the mutant Hox genes, accompanied by the loss of their function and cases of excessive and ectopic expression of Hox genes, are analyzed. Only in such cases do mutant phenotypes demonstrate symptoms of actual homeotic transformation, in which specific segmental structures are substituted by their homologues, as has been described for homeotic mutations in Drosophila.