Homologues of the engrailed gene from five molluscan classes.

We used the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify, clone, and sequence 10 engrailed homeodomains from 8 species in the five major molluscan classes, including the serially organized chiton (Polyplacophora) lineage. The Drosophila melanogaster gene engrailed (en) is one of several genes involved in embryonic segment polarity determination. Studies of engrailed sequence and expression in molluscs are of interest due to questions regarding the evolution and homology of segmentation in these taxa. Nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequence comparisons reflect evolutionary conservation within helices of the en homeodomain and ancient divergences in the region 3' to the homeodomain.