title: Hox genes from the parasitic flatworm Schistosoma japonicum.
abstract: Hox genes are characterized by a highly conserved peptide domain and contribute to antero-posterior axis patterning during embryogenesis. These genes have been widely studied in a variety of animal species due to their central role in evolutionary developmental biology. Based on the published genome assembly and unpublished re-sequencing project data, we present the first genome-wide characterization and comparative genomic analysis of the Hox gene family within Schistosoma japonicum. Eight Hox genes were identified and validated in our investigation. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that these genes are distributed among seven orthology groups of the Hox gene family. Our study further suggested that differences in the Lox5 gene copy number existed between the two closely related species, S. japonicum and Schistosoma mansoni. Semi-quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction experiments revealed that Lox5 and Hox4 gene expression was high in the schistosomulum stage, and all four genes investigated showed highest expression within the eggs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Microbial Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Lei
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Sang-Xia
authors.initials: SX
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Tong-Hai
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Dou
authors.forename: Min-Jie
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Jia-Xi
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Sheng-Yue
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D018628:Gene Dosage; D015870:Gene Expression; D005801:Genes, Homeobox; D016678:Genome; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012549:Schistosoma japonicum / Q000235:genetics*