Comparative analyses of vertebrate posterior HoxD clusters reveal atypical cluster architecture in the caecilian Typhlonectes natans.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The posterior genes of the HoxD cluster play a crucial role in the patterning of the tetrapod limb. This region is under the control of a global, long-range enhancer that is present in all vertebrates. Variation in limb types, as is the case in amphibians, can probably not only be attributed to variation in Hox genes, but is likely to be the product of differences in gene regulation. With a collection of vertebrate genome sequences available today, we used a comparative genomics approach to study the posterior HoxD cluster of amphibians. A frog and a caecilian were included in the study to compare coding sequences as well as to determine the gain and loss of putative regulatory sequences.

Results

We sequenced the posterior end of the HoxD cluster of a caecilian an

SUBMITTER: Mannaert A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3091776 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature