title: Exclusion of repetitive DNA elements from gnathostome Hox clusters.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Bioinformatics Group, Department of Computer Science, University of Leipzig Kreuzstrabetae 7b, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany. claudia@bioinf.uni-leipzig.de
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fried
authors.forename: Sonja J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Prohaska
authors.forename: Peter F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Stadler
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030561:Databases, Nucleic Acid; D005801:Genes, Homeobox / Q000235:genetics*; D020071:Interspersed Repetitive Sequences / Q000235:genetics*; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000235:genetics*