Of eyes and embryos: Subfunctionalization of the CRX homeobox gene in mammalian evolution

AH Royall; S Frankenberg; AJ Pask; PWH Holland

Journal article

Of eyes and embryos: Subfunctionalization of the CRX homeobox gene in mammalian evolution

AH Royall, S Frankenberg, AJ Pask, PWH Holland

Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences | ROYAL SOC | Published : 2019

DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.0830

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Abstract

ETCHbox genes are fast-evolving homeobox genes present only in eutherian (placental) mammals which originated by duplication and divergence from a conserved homeobox gene, Cone-rod homeobox (CRX). While expression and function of CRX are restricted to the retina in eutherian mammals, ETCHbox gene expression is specific to preimplantation embryos. This dramatic difference could reflect the acquisition of new functions by duplicated genes or subfunctionalization of pleiotropic roles between CRX and ETCHbox genes. To resolve between these hypotheses, we compared expression, sequence and inferred function between CRX of metatherian (marsupial) mammals and ETCHbox genes of eutherians. We find the..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Stephen Frankenberg Author

Andrew Pask Author

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Grants

Awarded by BBSRC

Funding Acknowledgements

We acknowledge BBSRC funding to A.H.R. through the Oxford Interdisciplinary Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership (BB/M011224/1) and Discovery Project funding (DP160103683) from the Australian Research Council to A.J.P. and SF.