| First Author | van der Lugt NM | Year | 1996 |
| Journal | Mech Dev | Volume | 58 |
| Issue | 1-2 | Pages | 153-64 |
| PubMed ID | 8887324 | Mgi Jnum | J:35539 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:82985 | Doi | 10.1016/s0925-4773(96)00570-9 |
| Citation | van der Lugt NM, et al. (1996) The Polycomb-group homolog Bmi-1 is a regulator of murine Hox gene expression. Mech Dev 58(1-2):153-64 |
| abstractText | Drosophila homeotic genes and vertebrate Hox genes are involved in the anteroposterior organization of the developing embryo. In Drosophila, the Polycomb- and trithorax-group genes are required to maintain the homeotic genes throughout development in the repressed or activated state, respectively. The murine Bmi-1 proto- oncogene was shown to exhibit homology to the Polycomb- group gene Posterior sex combs. Mice lacking the Bmi-1 gene revealed posterior transformations along the axial skeleton, whereas transgenic mice overexpressing Bmi-1 display anterior transformations. We have analysed the expression patterns of several Hox genes by RNA in situ hybridization on serial sections of 11.5- and 12.5-day Bmi- 1 null mutant embryos. Furthermore, we have analysed the expression of a Hoxc-8/LacZ fusion gene in younger embryos. Our analyses show that Bmi-l is involved in the repression of a subset of Hox genes from different clusters from at least day 9.5 onwards. We discuss the possibility that members of the murine Polycomb-group can form multimeric protein complexes of different compositions with varying affinity or specificity for different subsets of Hox genes. |
