A SoxB gene acts as an anterior gap gene and regulates posterior segment addition in a spider
- Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom
- University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Abstract
Sox genes encode a set of highly conserved transcription factors that regulate many developmental processes. In insects, the SoxB gene Dichaete is the only Sox gene known to be involved in segmentation. To determine if similar mechanisms are used in other arthropods, we investigated the role of Sox genes during segmentation in the spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum. While Dichaete does not appear to be involved in spider segmentation, we found that the closely related Sox21b-1 gene acts as a gap gene during formation of anterior segments and is also part of the segmentation clock for development of the segment addition zone and sequential addition of opisthosomal segments. Thus, we have found that two different mechanisms of segmentation in a non-mandibulate arthropod are regulated by a SoxB gene. Our work provides new insights into the function of an important and conserved gene family, and the evolution of the regulation of segmentation in arthropods.
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All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files
Article and author information
Author details
Christian Louis Bonatto Paese
Alistair P McGregor
Funding
Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2016-234)
- Alistair P McGregor
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/N007069/1)
- Steven Russell
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (234586/2014-1)
- Christian Louis Bonatto Paese
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2018, Bonatto Paese et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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A SoxB gene acts as an anterior gap gene and regulates posterior segment addition in a spider
eLife 7:e37567.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.37567
