Echiuran Hox genes provide new insights into the correspondence between Hox subcluster organization and collinearity pattern.

In many bilaterians, Hox genes are generally clustered along the chromosomes and expressed in spatial and temporal order. In vertebrates, the expression of Hox genes follows a whole-cluster spatio-temporal collinearity (WSTC) pattern, whereas in some invertebrates the expression of Hox genes exhibits a subcluster-level spatio-temporal collinearity pattern. In bilaterians, the diversity of collinearity patterns and the cause of collinearity differences in Hox gene expression remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate genomic organization and expression pattern of Hox genes in the echiuran worm Urechis unicinctus (Annelida, Echiura). Urechis unicinctus has a split cluster with four subclusters divided by non-Hox genes: first subcluster (Hox1 and Hox2), second subcluster (Hox3), third subcluster (Hox4, Hox5, Lox5, Antp and Lox4), fourth subcluster (Lox2 and Post2). The expression of U. unicinctus Hox genes shows a subcluster-based whole-cluster spatio-temporal collinearity (S-WSTC) pattern: the anterior-most genes in each subcluster are activated in a spatially and temporally colinear manner (reminiscent of WSTC), with the subsequent genes in each subcluster then being very similar to their respective anterior-most subcluster gene. Combining genomic organization and expression profiles of Hox genes in different invertebrate lineages, we propose that the spatio-temporal collinearity of invertebrate Hox is subcluster-based.