title: Regulation of Hox activity: insights from protein motifs.
abstract: Deciphering the molecular bases of animal body plan construction is a central question in developmental and evolutionary biology. Genome analyses of a number of metazoans indicate that widely conserved regulatory molecules underlie the amazing diversity of animal body plans, suggesting that these molecules are reiteratively used for multiple purposes. Hox proteins constitute a good example of such molecules and provide the framework to address the mechanisms underlying transcriptional specificity and diversity in development and evolution. Here we examine the current knowledge of the molecular bases of Hox-mediated transcriptional control, focusing on how this control is encoded within protein sequences and structures. The survey suggests that the homeodomain is part of an extended multifunctional unit coordinating DNA binding and activity regulation and highlights the need for further advances in our understanding of Hox protein activity.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Developmental Biology of Marseille Luminy, University of the Mediterranean, Marseille, France. merabet@ibdml.univ-mrs.fr
authors.forename: Samir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Merabet
authors.forename: Nagraj
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sambrani
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pradel
authors.forename: Yacine
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Graba
mesh_terms: D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D000818:Animals; D019521:Body Patterning / Q000235:genetics; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005801:Genes, Homeobox; D016678:Genome; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D010802:Phylogeny; D011485:Protein Binding; D011487:Protein Conformation
chemical_list: D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D004247:DNA