Human Hox-4.2 and Drosophila Deformed encode similar regulatory specificities in Drosophila embryos and larvae

The mouse Hox-1.3 gene is functionally equivalent to the Drosophila Sex combs reduced gene.

“…The present study supports the previous finding that mammalian Hox genes can functionally substitute for cognate Drosophila homeotic selector genes in fruit flies (Malicki et al 1990;McGinnis et al 1990). For each one of the three examined cognate pairs [Antp/mouse Hox-2.2 (Malicki et al 1990), Dfd/human Hox-4.2 (McGinnis et al 1990), andScr/mouse Hox-l.3 (this paper)], comparison of primary amino acid sequence reveals only small regions of conservation, the strongest homology being in the homeo domain (57/61, 54/60, and 56/61, respectively).…”

“…After heat shock, usually, 70--80% of the larvae die before eclosion (for hs-Scr flies, >90% die). Adult flies and unhatched pupae (that were first dissected out of sacs) are treated as described by McGinnis et al (1990).…”

“…One way to test this notion is to assay the ability of a given homeo box-containing gene from one organism to functionally substitute for a putative cognate gene in another organism. Two previous studies have shown that the mouse Hox-2.2 and human Hox-4.2 genes can carry out some of the functions of their Drosophila cognates when introduced into flies (Malicki et al 1990;McGinnis et al 1990). …”

Heterodimerization of Hox proteins with Pbx1 and oncoprotein E2a-Pbx1 generates unique DNA-binding specificities at nucleotides predicted to contact the N-terminal arm of the Hox homeodomain – demonstration of Hox-dependent targeting of E2a-Pbx1 in vivo

“…While heterodimer formation with Hox proteins is not essential for the ability of E2a-Pbx1 to induce foci in NIH3T3 or T cell leukemia in mice (Dedera et al, 1993) it remains important for its ability to block myeloid di erentiation . Like their positional cognates of the Drosophila Antennapedia and Bithorax complexes (ANT-C and BX-C, respectively, Figure 1a), Hox genes exhibit a temporally-and spatially-restricted pattern of expression that orchestrates normal di erentiation of structures along the anterior-posterior axis of the skeletal and central nervous systems (Krumlauf, 1994;McGinnis et al, 1990). Hox genes are also expressed during organogenesis and hematopoiesis (Vielle-Grosjean et al, 1992;Mathews et al, 1991;Petrini et al, 1992;Lawrence et al, 1993).…”

A proline-rich transcriptional activation domain in murine HOXD-4 (HOX-4.2)

“…Nonetheless, human HOXD4 can substitute for Dfd for the activation of the Dfd transcription unit in flies (49). In addition, the Dfd autoregulatory enhancer may respond to Dfd subfamily Hox products in mice (50).…”