Skip Navigation


Integrative and Comparative Biology Advance Access originally published online on October 18, 2006
Integrative and Comparative Biology 2006 46(6):890-901; doi:10.1093/icb/icl045
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
46/6/890    most recent
icl045v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (8)
Right arrow Request Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Aronowicz, J.
Right arrow Articles by Lowe, C. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. All rights reserved. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Hox gene expression in the hemichordate Saccoglossus kowalevskii and the evolution of deuterostome nervous systems

J. Aronowicz and C. J. Lowe1
Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago 1027 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA

Correspondence: 1E-mail: clowe{at}uchicago.edu

The evolutionary origins of the chordate central nervous system remain uncertain. Conclusions drawn from classical morphological comparisons and from a broad range of metazoan phyla conflict with the new molecular genetic information from developmental model systems characterized by central nervous systems. This has led to debate as to the nature of the ancestral deuterostome nervous system. Hemichordates as basal deuterostomes occupy a phylogenetically critical position for addressing hypotheses on the evolution of the chordate nervous system. Characterizing the molecular basis of the development of their diffuse nervous system offers insights into the role of conserved body patterning genes in the evolution of specific neural anatomies. We present a description of hox gene expression during the development of the direct-developing hemichordate Saccoglossus kowalevskii. The nested ectodermal expression of these genes in a hemichordate suggest that they play a general patterning role in the anterior/posterior regionalization of the ectoderm of bilaterians rather than being uniquely associated with the development and evolution of central nervous systems.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Biol. Bull.Home page
R. M. Freeman JR., M. Wu, M-M. Cordonnier-Pratt, L. H. Pratt, C. E. Gruber, M. Smith, E. S. Lander, N. Stange-Thomann, C. J. Lowe, J. Gerhart, et al.
cDNA Sequences for Transcription Factors and Signaling Proteins of the Hemichordate Saccoglossus kowalevskii: Efficacy of the Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) Approach for Evolutionary and Developmental Studies of a New Organism
Biol. Bull., June 1, 2008; 214(3): 284 - 302.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Phil Trans R Soc BHome page
B. J Swalla and A. B Smith
Deciphering deuterostome phylogeny: molecular, morphological and palaeontological perspectives
Phil Trans R Soc B, April 27, 2008; 363(1496): 1557 - 1568.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Phil Trans R Soc BHome page
C. J Lowe
Molecular genetic insights into deuterostome evolution from the direct-developing hemichordate Saccoglossus kowalevskii
Phil Trans R Soc B, April 27, 2008; 363(1496): 1569 - 1578.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.