Exclusion of repetitive DNA elements from gnathostome Hox clusters

• Published in: Journal of experimental zoology. Part B, Molecular and developmental evolution Vol. 302B; no. 2; pp. 165 - 173
• Main Authors: Fried, Claudia, Prohaska, Sonja J., Stadler, Peter F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 15.03.2004
• Subjects: Animals; Databases, Nucleic Acid; Genes, Homeobox - genetics; Interspersed Repetitive Sequences - genetics; Vertebrates - genetics
• ISSN: 1552-5007; 1552-5015
• DOI: 10.1002/jez.b.20007

Despite their homology and analogous function, the Hox gene clusters of vertebrates and invertebrates are subject to different constraints on their structural organization. This is demonstrated by a drastically different distribution of repetitive DNA elements in the Hox cluster regions. While gnathostomes have a strong tendency to exclude repetitive DNA elements from the inside of their Hox clusters, no such trend can be detected in the Hox gene clusters of protostomes. Repeats “invade” the gnathostome Hox clusters from the 5′ and 3′ ends while the core of the clusters remains virtually free of repetitive DNA. This invasion appears to be correlated with relaxed constraints associated with gene loss after cluster duplications. J. Exp. Zool. (Mol.Dev.Evol.) 302B:165–173, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.