Primary structure and developmental expression pattern of Hox 3.1, a member of the murine Hox 3 homeobox gene cluster.

The murine Hox 3.1 gene maps to a cluster of homeobox-containing genes on chromosome 15. We report the primary structure of the Hox 3.1 protein, as deduced from cDNA sequences, and the expression of Hox 3.1 mRNA during embryogenesis. In addition, a second member of the gene cluster, Hox 3.2, is characterized. The predicted Hox 3.1 protein consists of 242 amino acid residues and has a calculated mol. wt of 28 kd. Besides the homeodomain, it shares with other murine homeodomain proteins a conserved hexapeptide, a region rich in glutamic acid residues at the carboxy terminus and homology at the amino terminus. During embryogenesis, Hox 3.1 transcripts are detected first in the posterior neural tube of 9.5 days post-coital embryos. At later developmental stages, a ventral-dorsal gradient of Hox 3.1 transcript accumulation is established. Hox 3.1 transcripts also are detected in the thoracic sclerotomes from the 6th to the 10th thoracic pre-vertebrae. The data support the hypothesis that the Hox 3.1 gene specifies positional information during murine embryogenesis.