T-box genes H15 and optomotor-blind in the spiders Cupiennius salei, Tegenaria atrica and Achaearanea tepidariorum and the dorsoventral axis of arthropod appendages
Dorsoventral axis formation in the legs of the fly Drosophila melanogaster requires the T-box genes optomotor-blind (omb) and H15. Evolutionary conservation of the patterning functions of these genes is unclear, because data on H15 expression in the spider Cupiennius salei did not support a general...
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Published in | Evolution & development Vol. 10; no. 2; pp. 143 - 154 |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Malden, USA
Malden, USA : Blackwell Publishing Inc
01.03.2008
Blackwell Publishing Inc Blackwell Publishing Ltd |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Dorsoventral axis formation in the legs of the fly Drosophila melanogaster requires the T-box genes optomotor-blind (omb) and H15. Evolutionary conservation of the patterning functions of these genes is unclear, because data on H15 expression in the spider Cupiennius salei did not support a general role of H15 in ventral fate specification. However, H15 has a paralogous gene, midline (mid) in Drosophila and H15 duplicates are also present in Cupiennius and the millipede Glomeris marginata. H15 therefore seems to have been subject to gene duplication opening the possibility that the previous account on Cupiennius has overlooked one or several paralogs. We have studied omb- and H15-related genes in two additional spider species, Tegenaria atrica and Achearanea tepidariorum and show that in both species one of the H15 genes belongs to a third group of spider H15 genes that has an expression pattern very similar to the H15 pattern in Drosophila. The expression patterns of all omb-related genes are also very similar to the omb expression pattern in Drosophila. These data suggest that the dorsoventral patterning functions of omb and H15 are conserved in the arthropods and that the previous conclusions were based on an incomplete data set in Cupiennius. Our results emphasize the importance of a broad taxon sampling in comparative studies. |
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Bibliography: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1525-142X.2008.00222.x ArticleID:EDE222 istex:4B251F4E6F78977E79D4E0D3E0D12CD6590C6FCF ark:/67375/WNG-30V4TJBN-J ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 1520-541X 1525-142X 1525-142X |
DOI: | 10.1111/j.1525-142X.2008.00222.x |