title: A homeotic gene cluster patterns the anteroposterior body axis of C. elegans.
abstract: In insects and vertebrates, clusters of Antennapedia class homeobox (HOM-C) genes specify anteroposterior body pattern. The nematode C. elegans also contains a small cluster of HOM-C genes, one of which has been shown to specify positional identity. Here we show that two additional C. elegans HOM-C genes also specify positional identity and that together these three HOM-C genes function along the anteroposterior axis in the same order as their homologs in other organisms. Thus, HOM-C-based pattern formation has been conserved in nematodes despite the many differences in morphology and embryology that distinguish them from other phyla. Each C. elegans HOM-C gene is responsible for a distinct body region; however, where their domains overlap, two HOM-C genes can act together to specify the fates of individual cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco 94143-0554.
authors.forename: B B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Müller-Immergluck
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Austin
authors.forename: N T
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chisholm
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kenyon
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000235:genetics; D005801:Genes, Homeobox; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009024:Morphogenesis; D005810:Multigene Family; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid