Although the Hox genes have been identified as master regulatory genes controlling embryonic development, an alternative view on the role of the Hox gene network suggests that it regulates crucial processes at cellular level in eukaryotic organisms. Our working hypothesis considers the Hox...

The Hox gene clusters have been one of the most prominent paradigms within Developmental Biology. This stems from the great excitement that surrounded the discovery that the genes all contained the conserved homeobox motif and that the homologous genes were operating in broadly homologous ways in...

Stem cells are cells that undergo self-renewal as well as differentiation into progenitor cells. They are abundantly present, although ill defined, during development and it is believed that most, if not all, adult tissues harbor small populations of stem cells. Adult stem cells have been...

Early investigations established an important role for homeobox-containing genes in the initiation of regeneration, as well as in the later pattern formation events leading to a new limb. The recent increased research on the mechanisms of regeneration, along with the fact that urodele amphibians...

The Hox gene network has multiple roles in vertebrate limb development. One of its main functions is to encode positional information thus providing a “Hox” code for the pattern of structures along the long axis of the limb. Another function of Hox genes that has emerged recently is to...

The vertebrate nervous system is a major site of Hox gene expression and function. Studies on the patterns of expression, regulation and function of the vertebrate Hox gene family have played a key role in aiding our understanding of the basic ground plan of the CNS and processes that control how...

The development of normal patterns along the primary and secondary vertebrate axes depends on the regularity of early Hox gene expression. During initial stages, these expression events form a sequential pattern of partially overlapping domains along the anteroposterior axis in coincidence with...

The discovery of the homeobox, and the Hox gene clusters have uncovered a general universal principle of the genetic control of development. In all bilaterian animals these Hox clusters determine the body plan along the antero-posterior axis. Despite a bewildering diver-sity of modes of...

The evolution of Hox clusters in vertebrates follows different patterns than those of in-vertebrate clusters. More stringent structural constraints in vertebrates are apparent from tighter cluster organization and the systematic expulsion of repetitive material. We speculate that the tendency of...

Antero-posterior patterning of the animal embryo is governed in part by the highly conserved Hox genes. In most animals studied to date, Hox genes are assembled within one or more clusters. The thirty-nine Hox genes of mice and humans are organized into four clusters, each located on a different...