A Phylogenetic Analysis for Hox Linked Gene Families of Vertebrates

The human chromosomes 2, 7, 12 and 17 show genomic homology around Hox gene clusters, is taken as evidence that these paralogous gene families might have arisen from a ancestral chromosomal segment through genome duplication events. We have examined protein data from vertebrate and invertebrate genomes to analyze the phylogenetic history of multi-gene families with three or more of their representatives linked to human Hox clusters. Topology comparison based upon statistical significance and information of chromosome location for these genes examined have revealed many of linked genes co-duplicated with Hox gene clusters. Most linked genes to Hox clusters share the same evolutionary history and are duplicated in concert with each other. We conclude that gene families linked to Hox clusters may be suggestion of ancient genome duplications.