Forkhead box (Fox) transcription factors evolved early in animal evolution and represent important components of conserved gene regulatory networks (GRNs) during animal development. Most of the researches concerning Fox genes, however, are on vertebrates and only a relatively low number of studies investigate Fox gene function in invertebrates. In addition to this shortcoming, the focus of attention is often restricted to a few well-characterized Fox genes such as FoxA (forkhead), FoxC (crocodile) and FoxQ2. Although arthropods represent the largest and most diverse animal group, most other Fox genes have not been investigated in detail, not even in the arthropod model species Drosophila melanogaster. In a general gene expression pattern screen for panarthropod Fox genes including the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum, the pill millipede Glomeris marginata, the common house spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum, and the velvet worm Euperipatoides kanangrensis, we identified a Fox gene with a highly conserved expression pattern along the ventral ectoderm of arthropod and onychophoran limbs. Functional investigation of FoxB in Parasteatoda reveals a hitherto unrecognized important function of FoxB upstream of wingless (wg) and decapentaplegic (dpp) in the GRN orchestrating dorsal-ventral limb patterning.

中文翻译：

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FoxB，节肢动物背腹（DV）肢体模式中的一种新的且高度保守的关键因素。

叉头盒（Fox）转录因子在动物进化中很早就形成，并且代表了动物发育过程中保守基因调控网络（GRN）的重要组成部分。然而，有关Fox基因的大多数研究都在脊椎动物上，只有相对较少的研究调查了无脊椎动物中Fox基因的功能。除此缺点外，关注的焦点通常仅限于一些特征明确的Fox基因，例如FoxA（叉头），FoxC（鳄鱼）和FoxQ2。尽管节肢动物代表了最大和最多样化的动物群，但大多数其他Fox基因尚未得到详细研究，甚至在节肢动物模型种果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）中也没有得到研究。在常规的人足节Fox基因（包括红色甲壳虫Tribolium castaneum）的基因表达模式筛选中，我们用药丸千足虫Glomeris marginata，普通蜘蛛蜘蛛Parasteatoda tepidariorum和天鹅绒线虫Euperipatoides kanangrensis鉴定了一个节肢动物腹侧外生壁和甲虫肢体的Fox基因，该基因具有高度保守的表达模式。在Parasteatoda中对FoxB进行的功能研究表明，迄今为止，在GRN编排背腹四肢构图时，FoxB在无翅（wg）和无功能性（dpp）上游具有重要的功能。