Expression of a Hox gene, Cnox-2, and the division of labor in a colonial hydroid.
We report the isolation and expression of the Hox gene, Cnox-2, in Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus, a hydrozoan displaying division of labor. We found different patterns of aboral-to-oral Cnox-2 expression among polyp polymorphs, and we show that experimental conversion of one polyp type to another is accompanied by concordant alteration in Cnox-2 expression. Our results are consistent with the suggestion that polyp polymorphism, characteristic of hydractiniid hydroids, arose via evolutionary modification of proportioning of head to body column.
Department of Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA. pcart@eagle.cc.ukans.edu
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Cartwright
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Bowsher
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LW
Buss
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies; D005801:Genes, Homeobox; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D006829:Hydra / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D015800:Protozoan Proteins
D000906:Antibodies; C118123:Cnox-2 protein, Hydractinia symbiolongicarpu; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D015800:Protozoan Proteins