Expression of retinaldehyde dehydrogenase II and sequential activation of 5' Hoxb genes in the mouse caudal hindbrain

The precise anterior boundaries of Hox expression domains are critical for correct antero-posterior (A-P) patterning of the vertebrate longitudinal axis. Retinoic acid (RA) signalling has been shown to play an important role in the specification of pre-otic rhombomere boundaries, and in the regulation of 3' Hox expression within this territory. In addition, we recently showed that RA signalling controls 5'Hoxb gene expression in the caudal hindbrain, which had not been discovered before. We show here that the expression domain of these 5'Hoxb genes undergoes a sequential, colinear rostral expansion between E9.5 and E11.5 in the caudal hindbrain, and that this differential expansion occurs just rostrally to the localisation of the transcripts for the RA biosynthetic enzyme Raldh2 in the cervical mesenchyme.