Conservation of the T-box gene family from Mus musculus to Caenorhabditis elegans

Genomics. 1995 Jan 1;25(1):214-9. doi: 10.1016/0888-7543(95)80128-9.

Abstract

Recently, a novel family of genes with a region of homology to the mouse T locus, which is known to play a crucial, and conserved, role in vertebrate development, has been discovered. The region of homology has been named the T-box. The T-box domain of the prototypical T locus product is associated with sequence-specific DNA binding activity. In this report, we have characterized four members of the T-box gene family from the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. All lie in close proximity to each other in the middle of chromosome III. Homology analysis among all completely sequenced T-box products indicates a larger size for the conserved T-box domain (166 to 203 residues) than previously reported. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that one C. elegans T-box gene may be a direct ortholog of the mouse Tbx2 and Drosophila omb genes. The accumulated data demonstrate the ancient nature of the T-box gene family and suggest the existence of at least three separate T-box-containing genes in a common early metazoan ancestor to nematodes and vertebrates.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Biological Evolution*
  • Caenorhabditis elegans / genetics*
  • Cloning, Molecular
  • Conserved Sequence*
  • DNA, Complementary
  • Databases, Factual
  • Drosophila melanogaster / genetics
  • Gene Library
  • Mice / genetics*
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Multigene Family*
  • Phylogeny
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
  • Species Specificity
  • Xenopus laevis / genetics
  • Zebrafish / genetics

Substances

  • DNA, Complementary

Associated data

  • GENBANK/M77243
  • GENBANK/S61735
  • GENBANK/U11279
  • GENBANK/U15566
  • GENBANK/X51683
  • GENBANK/X71596
  • GENBANK/Z29443