Definition for Hox gene
From Biology Forums Dictionary
Hox genes are a group of related genes that determine the basic structure and orientation of an organism.
Hox genes are critical for the proper placement of segment structures of animals during early embryonic development (e.g. legs, antennae, and wings in fruit flies or the different vertebrate ribs in humans).
Hox genes are defined as having the following properties:
- They encode protein with regulatory function such as transcription.
- They contain within them a DNA sequence known as the homeobox.
- Most of them are linked together in a sequential cluster in the chromosome.
- They are organized on the sequential cluster in the order of their expression pattern along the cephalo-caudal (head to tail) axis of the organism.
