What the Cnidaria Tell Us about Pax Gene Evolution

刺絲胞動物可以告訴我們多少有關Pax基因之演化

David J. Miller

《Zoological Studies》 38卷4期 (1999/10) Pp. 367-372

摘要

Pax基因是一個由果蠅成對體節基因中首先被確認的基因區，它們通常包含了一個或部分的同源區以及成對區的轉錄因子遺傳密碼。這一族的基因在動物發育上扮演著主要的角色；然而，由於Pax基因族的複雜性和其功能的多樣性－已知人類有九個，而果蠅有八個Pax基因，混淆了我們對於不同生物間此基因族功能同源性的確認。最近獲得的幾個刺絲胞動物Pax基因資料，應有助於闡明Pax基因家族複雜的演化歷史。這篇回顧文章利用了刺絲胞動物的資料以及現今大量的線蟲基因組資料，提出一個解釋各種Pax基因演化的模型。

關鍵字

發育 ； 成對 ； 成對箱基因 ； 演化 ； 刺絲胞動物

並列摘要

Pax genes are defined by the possession of a motif that was first identified in the Drosophila segmentation gene paired. They encode transcription factors often containing a homeodomain (or a part of it) as well as the paired domain. Genes in this family play central roles in the development of animals; however, the complexity of the family-9 human and 8 Drosophila Pax genes are now known-and the diversity of their functions has effectively obscured the identification of functional homology between different organisms. The availability of data on a number of Pax genes in cnidarians should facilitate unravelling the complex evolutionary history of the Pax gene family. This review makes use of the cnidarian data and the extensive genomic sequence data now available for the nematode Caenorhabditis to propose a model for evolution of the various Pax gene types.

並列關鍵字

Development ； Paired ； Pax ； Evolution ； Cnidaria