Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

A human HOX4B regulatory element provides head-specific expression in Drosophila embryos

Nature volume 358, pages 345–347 (1992)Cite this article

Abstract

LIKE other homeobox genes of the Antennapedia and bithorax complexes (collectively called the HOM complex1,2), the Drosophila Deformed (Dfd) gene has structural homologues in the Hox/HOX complexes of mouse and humans, one of which is human HOX4B (refs 3, 4). Previous experiments indicated that HOX4B protein can specifically activate the expression of the endogenous Dfd transcription unit in Drosophila embryos and larvae5. We therefore asked whether HOX4B cis-regulatory elements could mimic the function of a Dfd autoregulatory element6–8 in Drosophila embryos. Here we show that a HOX4B upstream element can surprisingly provide expression in a posterior head segment of Drosophila. One possible mechanism for the axial position-specificity of the human element may involve the conservation of a Dfd-specific autoregulatory circuit in both arthropod and chordate lineages. This possibility is supported by the finding that a Drosophila Dfd autoregulatory element supplies spatially localized expression in the hindbrain of mouse embryos9.

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Akam, M. Cell 57, 347–349 (1989).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. McGinnis, W. & Krumlauf, R. Cell 68, 283–302 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Mavilio, F. et al. Nature 324, 664–667 (1986).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Regulski, M., McGinnis, N., Chadwick, R. & McGinnis, W. EMBO J. 6, 767–777 (1987).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. McGinnis, N., Kuziora, M. A. & McGinnis, W. Cell 63, 969–976 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Kuziora, M. & McGinnis, W. Cell 55, 477–485 (1988).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Bergson, C. & McGinnis, W. EMBO J. 9, 4287–4297 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Regulski, M., Dessain, S., McGinnis, N. & McGinnis, W. Genes Dev. 5, 278–286 (1991).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Awgulewitsch, A. & Jacobs, D. Nature 358, 341–344 (1992).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Tuggle, C. K., Zakany, J., Cianetti, L. Peschle, C. & Nguyen-Huu, M. C. Genes Dev. 4, 180–189 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Featherstone, M. S., Baron, A., Gaunt, S. J., Mattei, M-G. & Duboule, D. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 85, 4760–4764 (1988).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Cianetti, L. et al. Nucleic Acids Res. 18, 4361–4368 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Hunt, P. et al. Nature 353, 861–864 (1991).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Hiromi, Y. & Gehring, W. J. Cell 50, 963–974 (1987).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Oldenwald, W. F., Gabern, J., Arnheiter, H., Tournier-Lasserve, E. & Lazzarini, R. Genes Dev. 3, 158–172 (1989).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Affolter, M., Percival-Smith, A., Müller, M., Leupin, W. & Gehring, W. J. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 87, 4093–4097 (1990).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Ekker, S. C., Young, K. E., von Kessler, D. P. & Beachy, P. A. EMBO J. 10, 1179–1186 (1991).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Florence, B., Handrow, R. & Laughon, A. Molec. cell. Biol. 11, 3613–3623 (1991).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Dessain, S., Gross, C. T., Kuziora, M. & McGinnis, W. EMBO J. 11, 991–1002 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Falb, D. & Maniatis, T. Genes Dev. 6, 454–465 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Fibi, M. et al. Development 102, 349–359 (1988).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Wilkinson, D. G., Bhatt, S., Cook, M., Boncinelli, E. & Krumlauf, R. Nature 341, 405–409 (1989).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Fraser, S., Keynes, R. & Lumsden, A. Nature 344, 431–435 (1990).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Karess, R. E. & Rubin, G. M. Cell 38, 135–146 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Rubin, G. M. & Spradling, A. C. Science 218, 348–353 (1982).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Ho, S. N., Hunt, H. D., Horton, R. M., Pullen, J. K. & Pease, L. R. Gene 77, 51–59 (1989).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Turner, R. F. & Mahowald, A. P. Devl Biol. 68, 96–109 (1979).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Jurgens, G., Lehman, R., Schardin, M. & Nusslein-Volhard, C. Roux's Arch. dev. Biol. 195, 359–377 (1986).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Pöpperl, H. & Featherstone, M. EMBO J. (in the press).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics, Yale University, PO Box 6666, 260 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, Connecticut, 06511, USA

    Jarema Malicki

  2. Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, PO Box 6666, 260 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, Connecticut, 06511, USA

    William McGinnis

  3. Department of Hematology and Oncology, Istituto Superiore de Sanita, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161, Rome, Italy

    Luciano C. Cianetti & Cesare Peschle

Authors
  1. Jarema Malicki
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Luciano C. Cianetti
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Cesare Peschle
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. William McGinnis
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Malicki, J., Cianetti, L., Peschle, C. et al. A human HOX4B regulatory element provides head-specific expression in Drosophila embryos. Nature 358, 345–347 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1038/358345a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/358345a0

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing