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BIONFORMATICS ANALYSIS OF THE STRIPED (MORONE SAXATILIS) BASS HOXA2A AND HOXA2B GENOMIC DNA SUGGESTS EVOLUTIONARY CONSERVATION OF GENE REGULATION

Abstract

Hoxa2 is an evolutionarily conserved developmental regulatory gene that functions to pattern the rhombomeres and pharyngeal arches, or tissue primordia that give rise to many cranial nerves and craniofacial skeletal elements, respectively, in vertebrates. Bioinformatics and reporter gene assays in the mouse (Mus musculus) and chick (Gallus gallus) embryos have shown the presence of several genomic DNA regulatory sequences within and around the Hoxa2 gene. These sequences were shown to direct Hoxa2 gene expression in the rhombomeres and pharyngeal arches. Several teleost fishes contain two Hoxa2 genes, hoxa2a and hoxa2b, due to a whole genome duplication at the incipient stage of teleost evolution. Recent bioinformatics and reporter gene assays have shown that many of the regulatory sequences identified for Hoxa2 of mouse and chick are also present for hoxa2a and a2b of several teleost fishes, including zebrafish (Danio rerio), Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes), pufferfish (Takifugu rubripes), and Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). The current study attempts to expand our understanding of the Hoxa2 regulatory elements in teleost fishes by analyzing unpublished genomic hoxa2a and a2b sequences of striped bass (Morone saxatilis). We used the software program Geneious® to perform comparative genomic sequence analyses of the Striped bass hoxa2a and a2b sequences with orthologous sequences from mouse, chick, zebrafish, medaka, pufferfish, and tilapia. Preliminary results suggest that the regulatory sequences that direct mouse and chick Hoxa2 gene expression in the rhombomeres and pharyngeal arches are conserved for striped bass hoxa2a and a2b. These results support the expression patterns of striped bass hoxa2a and a2b, which are also expressed in the same domains.

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