Dispersal of NK homeobox gene clusters in amphioxus and humans

Graham N. Luke, L. Filipe C. Castro, Kirsten McLay, Christine Bird, Alan Coulson, and Peter W. H. Holland
PNAS April 29, 2003 100 (9) 5292-5295; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0836141100

  1. Edited by Michael S. Levine, University of California, Berkeley, CA, and approved February 27, 2003 (received for review October 10, 2002)

Abstract

The Drosophila melanogaster genome has six physically clustered NK-related homeobox genes in just 180 kb. Here we show that the NK homeobox gene cluster was an ancient feature of bilaterian animal genomes, but has been secondarily split in chordate ancestry. The NK homeobox gene clusters of amphioxus and vertebrates are each split and dispersed at two equivalent intergenic positions. From the ancestral NK gene cluster, only the Tlx–Lbx and NK3–NK4 linkages have been retained in chordates. This evolutionary pattern is in marked contrast to the Hox and ParaHox gene clusters, which are compact in amphioxus and vertebrates, but have been disrupted in Drosophila.

Footnotes

    • ↵§ To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: peter.holland{at}zoology.oxford.ac.uk.

    • This paper was submitted directly (Track II) to the PNAS office.

    • Data deposition: The sequences reported in this paper have been deposited in the GenBank database [contig 1 accession nos. are AL513308 (cosmid MPMGc118D2349), AL671994 (cosmid MPMGc118F1011), AL513310 (phage BFP807), and AL513311 (phage BFP809); contig 2 accession nos. are AL672000 (cosmid MPMGc117A1852) and AJ551449 (Tlx sequence); and contig 3 accession nos. are AJ551450 (AmphiNK1b sequence) and AL671989 (cosmid MPMGc117P1753)].

  • Abbreviation

    Myr,
    million years
    • Received October 10, 2002.
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    Dispersal of NK homeobox gene clusters in amphioxus and humans
    Graham N. Luke, L. Filipe C. Castro, Kirsten McLay, Christine Bird, Alan Coulson, Peter W. H. Holland
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Apr 2003, 100 (9) 5292-5295; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0836141100
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