Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2026
10:10
HOX Loci Focused CRISPR/sgRNA Library Screening Identifying Critical CTCF Boundaries
Published on: March 31, 2019
Conserved elements within open reading frames of mammalian Hox genes
Joost M Woltering1, Denis Duboule
1National Research Centre 'Frontiers in Genetics', Department of Zoology and Animal Biology, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
Journal of Biology
|February 20, 2009
Summary
Mammalian Hox genes show surprisingly conserved coding sequences, challenging previous assumptions. This suggests gene regulatory and coding elements are more intertwined than previously understood.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary Biology
- Genetics
- Genomics
Background:
- Hox genes are crucial for animal development.
- Gene regulation is typically associated with noncoding DNA.
- Previous research focused on conservation in noncoding regions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the conservation patterns within mammalian Hox genes.
- To determine if conserved DNA elements overlap with coding sequences.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of open reading frames in mammalian Hox genes.
- Comparison of DNA sequence conservation with protein sequence conservation.
Main Results:
- Open reading frames in mammalian Hox genes exhibit higher conservation than predicted by protein sequence alone.
- Highly conserved DNA elements are found within coding sequences, not just in neighboring noncoding regions.
Conclusions:
- Gene regulatory and coding sequences are more intermingled than previously thought.
- Conservation patterns in Hox genes provide evidence for overlapping regulatory and coding functions.
Related Concept Videos
02:51Multi-species Conserved Sequences
Next-generation sequencing technologies have created large genomic databases of a variety of animals and plants. Ever since the human genome project was completed, scientists studied the genome of primates, mammals, and other phylogenetically distant living beings. Such large-scale studies have provided new insights into the evolutionary relationship between organisms.
Although the genome of each species varies greatly from each other, a few sequences are highly conserved. Such conserved DNA...
Although the genome of each species varies greatly from each other, a few sequences are highly conserved. Such conserved DNA...
01:30General Transcription Factors
Tissue-specific transcription factors contribute to diverse cellular functions in mammals. For example, the gene for beta globin, a major component of hemoglobin, is present in all cells of the body. However, it is only expressed in red blood cells because the transcription factors that can bind to the promoter sequences of the beta globin gene are only expressed in these cells. Tissue-specific transcription factors also ensure that mutations in these factors may impair only the function of...
02:02Cis-regulatory Sequences
Cis-regulatory sequences are short fragments of non-coding DNA that are present on the same chromosomes as the genes that they regulate. These fragments serve as binding sites for transcriptional regulators, proteins that are responsible for controlling gene transcription and differential gene expression across cell types in eukaryotes. Cis-regulatory sequences can be close to the gene of interest or thousands of bases away in the DNA sequence; however, those sequences that are further away are...
02:02Cis-regulatory Sequences
Cis-regulatory sequences are short fragments of non-coding DNA that are present on the same chromosomes as the genes that they regulate. These fragments serve as binding sites for transcriptional regulators, proteins that are responsible for controlling gene transcription and differential gene expression across cell types in eukaryotes. Cis-regulatory sequences can be close to the gene of interest or thousands of bases away in the DNA sequence; however, those sequences that are further away are...
02:32Position-effect Variegation
In 1928, a German botanist Emil Heitz observed the moss nuclei with a DNA binding dye. He observed that while some chromatin regions decondense and spread out in the interphase nucleus, others do not. He termed them euchromatin and heterochromatin, respectively. He proposed that the heterochromatin regions reflect a functionally inactive state of the genome. It was later confirmed that heterochromatin is transcriptionally repressed, and euchromatin is transcriptionally active chromatin.
02:38Heterochromatin
The extent of chromatin compaction can be studied by staining chromatin using specific DNA binding dyes. Under the microscope, the dense-compacted regions that take up more dye are called heterochromatin. Heterochromatin is further classified into two forms – constitutive heterochromatin and facultative heterochromatin.
Constitutive heterochromatin: It is a highly compact region of chromatin that is mostly concentrated in the centromere and telomere. Unlike euchromatin, the amino acid at 9th...
Constitutive heterochromatin: It is a highly compact region of chromatin that is mostly concentrated in the centromere and telomere. Unlike euchromatin, the amino acid at 9th...