Disease relevance of homeobox

• Further studies should determine the specific role of these four homeobox genes in the development and progression of human breast cancer and potentially determine if they might be good targets for gene therapy [1].

High impact information on homeobox

• We elucidate the tissue-specific expression of several miRNAs during embryogenesis, including two encoded by genes embedded in homeobox (Hox) clusters, miR-10a and miR-196a [2].
• Control of cell fates in the central body region of C. elegans by the homeobox gene lin-39 [3].
• mec-3, a homeobox-containing gene that specifies differentiation of the touch receptor neurons in C. elegans [4].
• Developmental biology. Homing in on the homeobox [5].
• Recent progress ranges from the analysis of the control of promoter expression by homeobox genes to detailed analysis of the sites of homophilic and heterophilic interactions via mutagenesis strategies [6].

Biological context of homeobox

• The putative coding sequence of mec-3 contains a homeobox, suggesting that the mec-3 protein specifies the expression of touch cell differentiation by binding to DNA and regulating transcription of genes that encode the differentiated features of these cells [4].
• The conserved homeobox (Hox) gene cluster is neither conserved nor clustered in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans [7].
• The first clone contains a homeobox defining a new class of homeoboxes (ceh-11) [8].
• Two of them (ceh-11 and ceh-12) were isolated from a genomic library by hybridization at low stringency with the Ascaris lumbricoides homeobox AHB-1 [8].
• The homeobox, a 183 bp DNA sequence element, was originally identified as a region of sequence similarity between many Drosophila homeotic genes [9].

Anatomical context of homeobox

• Regulation of interneuron function in the C. elegans thermoregulatory pathway by the ttx-3 LIM homeobox gene [10].
• We find that the Caudal-related homeobox factor PAL-1 can activate hlh-1 in blastomeres that either lack POP-1/TCF or that have down-regulated POP-1/TCF in response to Wnt/MAP kinase signaling [11].
• The Caenorhabditis elegans lim-6 LIM homeobox gene regulates neurite outgrowth and function of particular GABAergic neurons [12].
• The Caenorhabditis elegans ems class homeobox gene ceh-2 is required for M3 pharynx motoneuron function [13].
• We describe here the functional analysis of the C. elegans LIM homeobox gene lim-6, the ortholog of the mammalian Lmx-1a and b genes that regulate limb, CNS, kidney and eye development. lim-6 is expressed in a small number of sensory-, inter- and motorneurons, in epithelial cells of the uterus and in the excretory system [12].

Other interactions of homeobox

• pha-2 is the Caenorhabditis elegans homolog of the vertebrate homeobox gene Hex [14].
• Sequence analysis of the amplified products revealed a new homeobox-containing gene, designated ceh-19 [15].
• In the second clone, sequence analysis revealed the existence of the third helix of a putative homeobox (ceh-12) which is interrupted by an intron located upstream of the codon for the amino acid 45 of the homeodomain [8].
• Using the ceh-11 homeobox as a probe, a third homeobox (ceh-13) was isolated from a cDNA library [8].
• The LIM homeobox gene ceh-14 confers thermosensory function to the AFD neurons in Caenorhabditis elegans [16].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of homeobox

• The homeobox-containing sequences of these PCR fragments allowed the amplification of the homeobox-coding exons for five of these genes in the species Polycelis nigra [17].
• The expression of Hox-like homeobox genes was analyzed by RT-PCR and in situ hybridization [18].
• Here, we report the molecular cloning and expression pattern of a new Paired class homeobox gene, Vsx-2, in the adult goldfish retina [19].

References