HOXA

Understanding our developmental blueprint

The deeply conserved Hox family of genes pattern the head to tail axis in the developing embryo. In mammals, they are organized in four separate clusters (HoxA,B,C and D). Both the space and time of Hox gene expression is colinear to their sequence in the genome. Loss of this ordered gene expression pattern leads to serious developmental defects. Using the HoxA cluster as a model, we are interested in understanding how the expression of Hox genes is regulated in order to pattern the developing nervous system. Building the HoxA cluster from the ground up allowed us to manipulate the various players that have been implicated in Hox gene regulation and come to a synergistic understanding of the pattern of Hox gene expression and embryonic development. Read more about what we’ve learned using our synthetic genomic reconstitution approach in Pinglay et al., Science 2022.

IN COLLABORATION WITH:

Liam Holt, Institute for Systems Genetics at NYU Langone Health

Esteban Mazzoni, New York University

Milica Bulajić, New York University