IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v420y2002i6912d10.1038_nature01189.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Serial deletions and duplications suggest a mechanism for the collinearity of Hoxd genes in limbs

Author

Listed:
  • Marie Kmita

    (University of Geneva, Sciences III)

  • Nadine Fraudeau

    (University of Geneva, Sciences III)

  • Yann Hérault

    (University of Geneva, Sciences III
    Molecular and Experimental Genetics, FRE2358, CNRS, Institut de Transgénose, rue de la Férollerie)

  • Denis Duboule

    (University of Geneva, Sciences III)

Abstract

Hox genes, located at one end of the HoxD cluster, are essential for the development of the extremities of our limbs; that is, the digits. This ‘collinear’ correspondence is accompanied by a gradual decrease in the transcriptional efficiency of the genes. To decipher the underlying regulatory mechanisms, and thus to understand better how digits develop, we engineered a series of deletions and duplications in vivo. We find that HoxD genes compete for a remote enhancer that recognizes the locus in a polar fashion, with a preference for the 5′ extremity. Modifications in either the number or topography of Hoxd loci induced regulatory reallocations affecting both the number and morphology of digits. These results demonstrate why genes located at the extremity of the cluster are expressed at the distal end of the limbs, following a gradual reduction in transcriptional efficiency, and thus highlight the mechanistic nature of collinearity in limbs.

Suggested Citation

  • Marie Kmita & Nadine Fraudeau & Yann Hérault & Denis Duboule, 2002. "Serial deletions and duplications suggest a mechanism for the collinearity of Hoxd genes in limbs," Nature, Nature, vol. 420(6912), pages 145-150, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:420:y:2002:i:6912:d:10.1038_nature01189
    DOI: 10.1038/nature01189
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature01189
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature01189?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Carlos Díaz-Castillo, 2013. "Females and Males Contribute in Opposite Ways to the Evolution of Gene Order in Drosophila," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(5), pages 1-10, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:420:y:2002:i:6912:d:10.1038_nature01189. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.