Functional evolution of the Ultrabithorax protein.

ABSTRACT: The Hox genes have been implicated as central to the evolution of animal body plan diversity. Regulatory changes both in Hox expression domains and in Hox-regulated gene networks have arisen during the evolution of related taxa, but there is little knowledge of whether functional changes in Hox proteins have also contributed to morphological evolution. For example, the evolution of greater numbers of differentiated segments and body parts in insects, compared with the simpler body plans of arthropod ancestors, may have involved an increase in the spectrum of biochemical interactions of individual Hox proteins. Here, we compare the in vivo functions of orthologous Ultrabithorax (Ubx) proteins from the insect Drosophila melanogaster and from an onychophoran, a member of a sister phylum with

SUBMITTER: Grenier JK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC15394 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature