Evolution of the Hox gene complex from an evolutionary ground state
WJ Gehring, U Kloter, H Suga - Current topics in developmental biology, 2009 - Elsevier
In this chapter, we consider the question of how the ordered clusters of Hox genes arose
during evolution. Since ordered Hox clusters are found in all major superphyla, we have to
assume that the Hox clusters arose before the Cambrian “explosion” giving rise to all of
these taxa. Based on his studies of the bithorax complex (BX‐C) in Drosophila Lewis
considered the ground state to be the mesothoracic segment (T2) since the deletion of all of
the genes of the BX‐C leads to a transformation of all segments from T3 to A8/9 (the last …
during evolution. Since ordered Hox clusters are found in all major superphyla, we have to
assume that the Hox clusters arose before the Cambrian “explosion” giving rise to all of
these taxa. Based on his studies of the bithorax complex (BX‐C) in Drosophila Lewis
considered the ground state to be the mesothoracic segment (T2) since the deletion of all of
the genes of the BX‐C leads to a transformation of all segments from T3 to A8/9 (the last …