{"doi":"10.1073/pnas.070046997","title":"Distinct Hox protein sequences determine specificity in different tissues","abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    <jats:italic>Hox</jats:italic>\n                    genes encode evolutionarily conserved transcription factors that control the morphological diversification along the anteroposterior (A/P) body axis. Expressed in precise locations in the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm, Hox proteins have distinct regulatory activities in different tissues. How Hox proteins achieve tissue-specific functions and why cells lying at equivalent A/P positions but in different germ layers have distinctive responses to the same Hox protein remains to be determined. Here, we examine this question by identifying parts of Hox proteins necessary for Hox function in different tissues. Available genetic markers allow the regulatory effects of two Hox proteins, Abdominal-A (AbdA) and Ultrabithorax (Ubx), to be distinguished in the\n                    <jats:italic>Drosophila</jats:italic>\n                    embryonic epidermis and visceral mesoderm (VM). Chimeric Ubx/AbdA proteins were tested in both tissues and used to identify protein sequences that endow AbdA with a different target gene specificity from Ubx. We found that distinct protein sequences define AbdA, as opposed to Ubx, function in the epidermis vs. the VM. These sequences lie mostly outside the homeodomain (HD), emphasizing the importance of non-HD residues for specific Hox activities. Hox tissue specificity is therefore achieved by sensing distinct Hox protein structures in different tissues.\n                  </jats:p>","journal":"Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences","year":2000,"id":40441,"datarank":1.6745902936422619,"base_score":3.6109179126442243,"endowment":3.6109179126442243,"self_citation_contribution":0.5416376868966337,"citation_network_contribution":1.1329526067456281,"self_endowment_contribution":0.5416376868966337,"citer_contribution":1.1329526067456281,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":36,"citer_count":30,"citers_with_citation_signal":26,"citers_with_endowment":26,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":116402,"name":"Samir Merabet","orcid":"0000-0001-7629-703X","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":196482,"name":"David Bilder","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":196483,"name":"Matthew P. Scott","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":196484,"name":"Jacques Pradel","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":196485,"name":"Yacine Graba","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":183218,"name":"Sophie Chauvet","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"base_score":3.6109179126442243,"endowment":3.6109179126442243,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"10737765","pmcid":"PMC18149","openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W2130766330","authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"Howard Hughes Medical Institute","grant_id":"","title":null},{"funder_name":"Howard Hughes Medical Institute","grant_id":"","title":null}],"total_grants":2,"fwci":1.227,"citation_percentile":0.79094458,"influential_citations":3,"citation_trend":[{"year":2013,"count":1},{"year":2014,"count":2},{"year":2015,"count":1},{"year":2016,"count":1},{"year":2017,"count":1},{"year":2019,"count":1},{"year":2022,"count":1},{"year":2025,"count":1},{"year":2026,"count":1}],"oa_status":"green","license":null,"oa_locations":[{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/pmc18149?pdf=render","host_type":"GREEN"},{"url":"https://pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.070046997","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.070046997","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10737765","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/18149","host_type":"repository"}],"fields_of_study":["Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation","Genetic and Clinical Aspects of Sex Determination and Chromosomal Abnormalities","Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research","Biology","Medicine","Animals","Base Sequence","Chimera","DNA Primers","DNA-Binding Proteins","Drosophila","Drosophila Proteins","Epidermis","Homeodomain Proteins","Insect Proteins","Nuclear Proteins","Transcription Factors"],"mesh_terms":["Animals","Base Sequence","Chimera","DNA-Binding Proteins","Drosophila","Epidermis","Nuclear Proteins","Transcription Factors","DNA Primers","Homeodomain Proteins","Insect Proteins","Drosophila Proteins"],"keywords":["Hox gene","Ultrabithorax","Biology","Homeotic gene","Ectoderm","Homeobox","Mesoderm","Transcription factor","Genetics","Gene","Cell biology","Embryogenesis","Embryonic stem cell"],"sdg_mappings":[],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-06-12T06:10:30.463497Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}