How Hox genes can shed light on the place of echinoderms among the deuterostomes

Table 1 Available information regarding Hox genes of major echinoderm clades

	Crinoids	Asteroids	Ophiuroids	Holothuroids	Echinoids
Gene characterization	PCR [25]	PCR [26–28]	PCR [29, 30] Pyrosequencing [33]^a	PCR [31, 32]^a	Whole genome sequence [2, 16]
Mapping of genes along chromosomes	Inferred [30]	Inferred [26]	X	X	Complete translocation - inversion observed [2]
Expression domains in space and time	Embryos Larvae [25, 34]	Larvae Juveniles [34–38]	X	X	Embryos Larvae Juveniles [39–43]

The available genetic information is grouped in three main levels (rows) for each echinoderm class (columns). The bottom row gives precision about the developmental stage at which observations were made. Numbers in square brackets correspond to the primary bibliographic references.
^aRecorded only during regeneration process.

ISSN: 2041-9139