CHox11L2, a Hox11 related gene, is expressed in the peripheral nervous system and subpopulation of the spinal cord during chick development.

cHox11L2, the chick counterpart of mouse Hox11L2, was isolated. cHox11L2 was expressed in the developing chick peripheral nervous system, i.e. sensory cranial nerves of placodal ectoderm origin, sympathetic ganglia, dorsal root ganglia and enteric ganglia as well as a limited regions of the spinal cord. In neuronal derivatives of the neural crest, cHox11L2 was expressed in the postmigratory cells and not in the migrating neural crest cells. Furthermore, intense signals of cHox11L2 mRNA were detected also in the spinal cord and the dorsal roots of 10-day embryos. No transcripts were detected in the spinal cord of the postnatal day-2 animals. These results suggest that cHox11L2 might play a role in neuronal differentiation during chick nervous system development.