Int. J. Dev. Biol. 62: 693 - 704 (2018)

https://doi.org/10.1387/ijdb.180270em

Vol 62, Issue 11-12

Special Issue: Homeobox genes

Regulatory landscape of the Hox transcriptome

Published: 12 December 2018

Ana Casaca¹, Gabriel M. Hauswirth², Heidi Bildsoe², Moisés Mallo*^,1 and Edwina Mcglinn*^,2

¹Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Oeiras, Portugal and ²EMBL Australia, Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Monash University, Clayton, Australia

Abstract

Precise regulation of Hox gene activity is essential to achieve proper control of animal embryonic development and to avoid generation of a variety of malignancies. This is a multilayered process, including complex polycistronic transcription, RNA processing, microRNA repression, long noncoding RNA regulation and sequence-specific translational control, acting together to achieve robust quantitative and qualitative Hox protein output. For many such mechanisms, the Hox cluster gene network has turned out to serve as a paradigmatic model for their study. In this review, we discuss current knowledge of how the different layers of post-transcriptional regulation and the production of a variety of noncoding RNA species control Hox output, and how this shapes formation of developmental systems that are reproducibly patterned by complex Hox networks.

Keywords

Hox gene, post-transcriptional regulation, polycistronic, lncRNA, microRNA