Cloning and expression analysis of chicken Lix1, a founding member of a novel gene family.

Limb Expression 1 (Lix1), a founding member of a novel gene family, was identified in a screen for genes transiently and locally expressed during early chicken limb development. Most prominently, Lix1 is transiently expressed in the nascent hindlimb bud between Hamburger-Hamilton stages 15 and 19. Chicken Lix1 transcripts are also found in the basal plate of rhombomeres 3 and 5, in pharyngeal and in foregut mesenchyme and in all facial primordia except for the mandibular arches. Homologs of chick Lix1 exist in human, mouse and Drosophila.