The Phylogenetic Analysis Of Drosophila Melangoster HOX Genes

As a commonly-used laboratory model organism, Drosophila provides a great mount of valuable materials to study the evolutionary relationship of genes and species, playing a revealing and leading role in biological research. Hox genes are typically found together in a single complex on animal chromosomes, which code an important kind of transcription factor and are critical for ontogenetic development. The Hox genes were found in Drosophila firstly, which are divided into two gene clusters (ANT-C and BX-C) on the Drosophila chromosome and include 8 traditional genes. The Hox genes are arranged on 3R of Drosophila chromosome, which regulate the development and differentiation of the segments along the anterior-posterior body axis.Eight Hox genes all contain a conserved nucleotides segment of 180 bp (homeobox), which exists in almost all animals genomes. In this thesis, the research on phylogenetic relationships of Drosophila Hox genes is important for exploring the evolution of genes, and also plays a significant role to the study of Hox genes evolution in the other species.The phylogenitic tree based on DNA and protein sequences of eight Drosophila Hox genes was constructed through BioEdit 7.0, DNAMAN 6.0 and MEGA 5.0 biological analysis software in this thesis. And the origin and evolution of Hox genes during the evolution of Drosophila were also discussed, combining with the structure and function researches of eight Drosophila Hox genes.