title: Hox genes from the tapeworm Taenia asiatica (Platyhelminthes: Cestoda).
abstract: Hox genes are important in forming the anterior-posterior body axis pattern in the early developmental stage of animals. The conserved nature of the genomic organization of Hox genes is well known in diverse metazoans. To understand the Hox gene architecture in human-infecting Taenia tapeworms, we conducted a genomic survey of the Hox gene using degenerative polymerase chain reaction primers in Taenia asiatica. Six Hox gene orthologs from 276 clones were identified. Comparative analysis revealed that T. asiatica has six Hox orthologs, including two lab/Hox1, two Hox3, one Dfd/Hox4, and one Lox2/Lox4. The results suggest that Taenia Hox genes may have undergone independent gene duplication in two Hox paralogs. The failure to detect Post1/2 orthologs in T. asiatica may suggest that sequence divergence or the secondary loss of the posterior genes has occurred in the lineage leading to the cestode and trematode.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology and Medical Research Institute, Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, Chongju, Chungbuk 361-763, South Korea.
authors.forename: Kyu-Heon
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Yong Seok
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Hyeong-Kyu
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Jeon
authors.forename: Joong-Ki
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Chang-Bae
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Keeseon S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Eom
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D044466:Asian People; D005801:Genes, Homeobox / Q000235:genetics*; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D013621:Taenia / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D018398:Homeodomain Proteins