Table of Contents

Mechanisms of Activity.- Regulation of Hox Activity: Insights from Protein Motifs.- Cis-Regulation in the Drosophila Bithorax Complex.- Maintenance of Hox Gene Expression Patterns.- Control of Vertebrate Hox Clusters by Remote and Global Cis-Acting Regulatory Sequences.- Evolution of Hox Genes and Complexes.- The Early Evolution of Hox Genes: A Battle of Belief?.- Evolution of Hox Complexes.- The Nematode Story: Hox Gene Loss and Rapid Evolution.- Are the Deuterostome Posterior Hox Genes a Fast-Evolving Class?.- Biological Function.- Hox Genes and the Body Plans of Chelicerates and Pycnogonids.- Hox3/zen and the Evolution of Extraembryonic Epithelia in Insects.- Hox Genes and Brain Development in Drosophila.- Homeosis and Beyond. What Is the Function of the Hox Genes?.

About the Author

JEAN S. DEUT SCH, is Emeritus Professor of Genetics and Animal Biology, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris 6, Department (UMR 7622) “Biologie du Développement”. Under the supervision of Prof. P.P. Slonimski, he participated to the birth of mitochondrial genetics of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. During the ‘80s, he moved to the Institut Jacques Monod in Paris to study developmental genetics of Drosophila melanogaster, focusing on the genetics of the hormonal control of metamorphosis. In 1993, he was the first in France, together with André Adoutte, to undertake evo-devo studies, choosing the cirripedes, which have been Darwin’s favourite animals, as a model, because of their so peculiar body plan. In a second step, his team studied the developmental genetics of other arthropods, including scorpions and pycnogonids. He is author of a number of scientific publications in international journals, and of three textbooks in French on Drosophila and genetics.