1 JULY 1999
THE PATTERNING FUNCTION OF PURINES IN THE BRINE SHRIMP ARTEMIA
A. Hernandorena-1999
Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences. Serie III - Sciences de la Vie -Life Sciences, 322(4) : 289-301 (from Current Contents)
Abstract:
In two Artemia wild-type sibling species originating from the Old and New Worlds, the processes underlying the construction of the naupliar body during embryonic development and the construction of the adult body during postembryonic development are disrupted by specific nutritional deficiencies and/or the administration of metabolic inhibitors. The species-specific phenotypic outcomes of these experimental disruptions on the construction of segments and the establishment of their identity, permit us to outline a model in which Hox genes would act as intermediary cogwheels fastened to a mechanism put in gear upstream by purine-mediated processes which would trigger downstream folic acid-mediated processes. The prevalent view that Hox genes can select for different developmental programmes, is challenged by this model whose relevancy is analysed in the context of our present knowledge on the master functions ascribed to Hox genes in developmental and evolutionary processes.
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