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The family of Hox genes, which number 4 to 48 per genome dependingon the animal, control morphologies on the main body axis ofnearly all metazoans. The conventional wisdom is that Hox genesare arranged in chromosomal clusters in colinear order withtheir expression patterns on the body axis. However, recentevidence has shown that Hox gene clusters are fragmented, reduced,or expanded in many animalsfindings that correlate withinteresting morphological changes in evolution. Hox gene clustersalso contain many noncoding RNAs, such as intergenic regulatorytranscripts and evolutionarily conserved microRNAs, some ofwhose developmental functions have recently been explored.
Section of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: wmcginnis{at}ucsd.edu
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