Expression of Cnox-2, a HOM/HOX homeobox gene in hydra, is correlated with axial pattern formation.
Cnox-2 is a HOM/HOX homeobox gene that we have identified in the simple metazoan Hydra vulgaris (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa). Cnox-2 is most closely related to anterior members of the Antennapedia gene complex from Drosophila, with the greatest similarity to Deformed. The Cnox-2 protein is expressed in the epithelial cells of adult hydra polyps in a region-specific pattern along the body axis, at a low level in the head and at a high level in the body column and the foot. The expression pattern of Cnox-2 is consistent with a role in axial pattern formation. Alteration of hydra axial patterning by treatment with diacylglycerol (DAG) results in an increase of head activation down the body column and in a coordinate reduction of Cnox-2 expression in epithelial cells in 'head-like' regions. These results suggest that Cnox-2 expression is negatively regulated by a signaling pathway acting through protein kinase C (PKC), and that the varying levels of expression of Cnox-2 along the body axis have the potential to result in differential gene expression which is important for hydra pattern formation.
Shenk
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MA
Developmental Biology Center, University of California, Irvine 92717-1700.
Bode
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Steele
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D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004075:Diglycerides / Q000494:pharmacology; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000187:drug effects; D005801:Genes, Homeobox / Q000235:genetics*; D006829:Hydra / Q000235:genetics*; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
D004075:Diglycerides