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Classification and expression analyses of homeobox genes from Dictyostelium discoideum

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Abstract

Homeobox genes are compared between genomes in an attempt to understand the evolution of animal development. The ability of the protist, Dictyostelium discoideum, to shift between uni- and multicellularity makes this group ideal for studying the genetic changes that may have occurred during this transition. We present here the first genome-wide classification and comparative genomic analysis of the 14 homeobox genes present in D. discoideum. Based on the structural alignment of the homeodomains, they can be broadly divided into TALE and non-TALE classes. When individual homeobox genes were compared with members of known class or family, we could further classify them into 3 groups, namely, TALE, OTHER and NOVEL classes, but no HOX family was found. The 5 members of TALE class could be further divided into PBX, PKNOX, IRX and CUP families; 4 homeobox genes classified as NOVEL did not show any similarity to any known homeobox genes; while the remaining 5 were classified as OTHERS as they did show certain degree of similarity to few known homeobox genes. No unique RNA expression pattern during development of D. discoideum emerged for members of an individual group. Putative promoter analysis revealed binding sites for few homeobox transcription factors among many probable factors.

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Acknowledgements

SS acknowledges the DST PURSE grant to her, and HM acknowledges UGC for fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 110 067, India

    Himanshu Mishra & Shweta Saran

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  1. Himanshu Mishra
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  2. Shweta Saran
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Correspondence to Shweta Saran.

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Corresponding editor: Durgadas P Kasbekar

[Mishra H and Saran S 2015 Classification and expression analyses of homeobox genes from Dictyostelium discoideum. J. Biosci. 40 1–15] DOI 10.1007/s12038-015-9519-3

Supplementary materials pertaining to this article are available on the Journal of Biosciences Website at http://www.ias.ac.in/jbiosci/jun2015/supp/Mishra.pdf

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Mishra, H., Saran, S. Classification and expression analyses of homeobox genes from Dictyostelium discoideum . J Biosci 40, 241–255 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-015-9519-3

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