Since their discovery Hox genes have been at the core of the established models explaining the development and evolution of the vertebrate body plan as well as its paired appendages. Recent work brought new light to their role in the patterning processes along the main body axis. These studies show that Hox genes do not control the basic layout of the vertebrate body plan but carry out region-specific patterning instructions loaded on the derivatives of axial progenitors by Hox-independent processes. Furthermore, the finding that Hox clusters are embedded in functional chromatin domains, which critically impacts their expression, has significantly altered our understanding of the mechanisms of Hox gene regulation. This new conceptual framework has broadened our understanding of both limb development and the evolution of vertebrate paired appendages.

自从它们的发现以来，Hox基因一直是已建立模型的核心，该模型解释了脊椎动物身体计划及其成对的附肢的发育和进化。最近的工作使它们在沿着主体轴的构图过程中的作用有了新的亮点。这些研究表明，Hox基因不控制脊椎动物身体计划的基本布局，而是通过不依赖Hox的过程执行特定于区域的模式指令，这些指令加载在轴向祖细胞的衍生物上。此外，发现Hox簇嵌入功能性染色质结构域中，这严重影响了它们的表达，这一发现大大改变了我们对Hox机理的理解。基因调控。这个新的概念框架拓宽了我们对肢体发育和脊椎动物配对附件进化的理解。