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Evolution

The skeleton's key

Nature Reviews Genetics volume 4, page 676 (2003)Cite this article

Mice with mutations in single members or subsets of the paralogous Hox groups have only minor skeletal defects. Furthermore, combinations of mutations in any five of the six Hox10 or Hox11 alleles produce similar abnormalities, which indicates that individual alleles have roughly equivalent effects. By contrast, mutants in which all of these alleles have been inactivated have gross phenotypic defects.

By mutating all members of these functionally redundant groups, Wellik and Capecchi were able to determine their precise roles in patterning the axial skeleton: triple mutants of Hox10 lack lumbar vertebrae and develop ribs on all posterior vertebrae, whereas Hox11 triple mutants fail to develop sacral vertebrae.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Wellik, D. M. & Capecchi, M. R. Hox10 and Hox11 genes are required to globally pattern the mammalian skeleton. Science 301, 363–367 (2003)

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  1. Victoria Kitchener
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Kitchener, V. The skeleton's key. Nat Rev Genet 4, 676 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg1163

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg1163

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