A position-dependent organisation of retinoid response elements is conserved in the vertebrate Hox clusters

• Published in: Trends in genetics Vol. 19; no. 9; pp. 476 - 479
• Main Authors: Mainguy, Gaëll, In der Rieden, Paul M.J, Berezikov, Eugene, Woltering, Joost M, Plasterk, Ronald H.A, Durston, Antony J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01-09-2003; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Animals; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Classical genetics, quantitative genetics, hybrids; Conserved Sequence; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes, Homeobox; Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution; Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; Retinoids - pharmacology; Vertebrata; Vertebrates - genetics; Gene cluster; Regulatory sequence; Vertebrata; Transcription factor; Response element; Retinoid
• ISSN: 0168-9525
• DOI: 10.1016/S0168-9525(03)00202-6

Unlike the genetic code, the protein–DNA recognition modalities are degenerate in both directions. Consequently, how do transcription factors achieve their considerable specificity and selectivity in regulating the genetic programs that they ultimately influence? Here, we discuss the fact that different
Hox gene-specific variants of retinoid response elements are not equivalent. Each particular variant occurs at a precise position along the vertebrate
Hox clusters and this organization was present before the time when the ancestral vertebrate
Hox cluster was duplicated.