Hox基因在所有動物沿身體軸線的結(jié)構(gòu)分化中都扮演一個中心角色,，該基因表達模式的改變與脊椎動物身體構(gòu)造的多樣化并行,。
對有鱗爬行類（蜥蜴和蛇）Hox基因的組織所做的一項研究表明，Hox基因簇出人意料地積累了可轉(zhuǎn)座的元素,，反映了編碼和非編碼調(diào)控區(qū)域中廣泛的基因組重排,。對表現(xiàn)出不同中軸骨架的兩個物種（玉米蛇和鞭尾蜥）所做的比較表達分析顯示，Hox13 和 Hox10的表達有很大改變,，與發(fā)育中的蛇胚胎的尾部區(qū)域和胸部區(qū)域的擴張巧合,。
因此，Hox基因簇結(jié)構(gòu)和功能的改變可能反映了在這一類群中所觀察到的廣泛的形態(tài)輻射,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Nature 464, 99-103 (4 March 2010) | doi:10.1038/nature08789
Changes in Hox genes' structure and function during the evolution of the squamate body plan
Nicolas Di-Po?1, Juan I. Montoya-Burgos1, Hilary Miller2, Olivier Pourquié3,4,6, Michel C. Milinkovitch1 & Denis Duboule1,5
1 National Research Center ‘Frontiers in Genetics’, Department of Zoology and Animal Biology, University of Geneva, Sciences III, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
2 School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
3 Howard Hughes Medical Institute,
4 Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, Missouri 64110, USA
5 School of Life Sciences, Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
6 Present address: Institute de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, CNRS (UMR 7104), Inserm U964, Université de Strasbourg, Illkirch, F-67400, France.
Hox genes are central to the specification of structures along the anterior–posterior body axis1, 2, and modifications in their expression have paralleled the emergence of diversity in vertebrate body plans3, 4. Here we describe the genomic organization of Hox clusters in different reptiles and show that squamates have accumulated unusually large numbers of transposable elements at these loci5, reflecting extensive genomic rearrangements of coding and non-coding regulatory regions. Comparative expression analyses between two species showing different axial skeletons, the corn snake and the whiptail lizard, revealed major alterations in Hox13 and Hox10 expression features during snake somitogenesis, in line with the expansion of both caudal and thoracic regions. Variations in both protein sequences and regulatory modalities of posterior Hox genes suggest how this genetic system has dealt with its intrinsic collinear constraint to accompany the substantial morphological radiation observed in this group.
