Expression of hunchback during trunk segmentation in the branchiopod crustacean Artemia franciscana

Comparative studies have shown that some aspects of segmentation are widely conserved among arthropods. Yet, it is still unclear whether the molecular prepatterns that are required for segmentation in Drosophila are likely to be similarly conserved in other arthropod groups. Homologues of the Drosophila gap genes, like hunchback, show regionally restricted expression patterns during the early phases of segmentation in diverse insects, but their expression patterns in other arthropod groups are not yet known. Here, we report the cloning of a hunchback orthologue from the crustacean Artemia franciscana and its expression during the formation of trunk segments. Artemia hunchback is expressed in a series of segmental stripes that correspond to individual thoracic/trunk, genital, and postgenital segments. However, this expression is not associated with the segmenting ectoderm but is restricted to mesodermal cells that associate with the ectoderm in a regular metameric pattern. All cells in the early segmental mesoderm appear to express hunchback. Later, mesodermal expression fades, and a complex expression pattern appears in the central nervous system (CNS), which is comparable to hunchback expression in the CNS of insects. No regionally restricted expression, reminiscent of gap gene expression, is observed during trunk segmentation. These patterns suggest that the expression patterns of hunchback in the mesoderm and in the CNS are likely to be ancient and conserved among crustaceans and insects. In contrast, we find no evidence for a conserved role of hunchback in axial patterning in the trunk ectoderm.