Nomenclature

Vertebrate homeobox proteins: nomenclature and index

Background information

The homeotic Hox proteins are sequence-specific transcription factor which
are part of a developmental regulatory system that provides cells with
specific positional identities on the anterior-posterior (A-P) axis [1].
The hox proteins contain an `homeobox' domain. In Drosophila and other
insects there are eight different Hox genes that are encoded in two gene
complexes: ANT-C and BX-C; while in vertebrates there are 38 genes organized
in four complexes.

Recently [2,3] a new nomenclature system has been proposed for Hox genes.
The four gene complexes are assigned the letters A to D. Based on sequence
similarities the genes can be sorted into 13 `paralog' groups. The order of
the paralogs along the chromosomes are conserved in the four complexes. The
gene name is obtained by concatenating the gene complex letter designation
with the group number; examples: HOXA1, HOXB4, HOXC8, HOXD13, etc. In
several cases a representative of a paralog group is absent from a complex,
in such cases that gene number is omitted. For example: HOXA8, HOXC1 and
HOXD2 do not exist.

We have fully implemented this nomenclature system in SWISS-PROT.

[ 1] McGinnis W., Krumlauf R.
     Cell 68:283-302(1992).
[ 2] Scott M.P.
     Cell 71:551-553(1992).
[ 3] Scott M.P.
     Nucleic Acids res. 21:1687-1688(1993).

Table of the nomenclature for HOX genes

New     Previous Previous  Other         Other      Other previous names used

gene    Human    Mouse     Mouse         Human      in various species

name    name     name      names         names

HOXA1   HOX1F    HOX-1.6   era-1

HOXA2   HOX1K    HOX-1.11                           NvHbox-2.8

HOXA3   HOX1E    HOX-1.5   mo-10

HOXA4   HOX1D    HOX-1.4   mh-3                     R2; Chox-1.4

HOXA5   HOX1C    HOX-1.3   m2                       s12-B

HOXA6   HOX1B    HOX-1.2   m5-4

HOXA7   HOX1A    HOX-1.1   m6-12; m6                R5; Quox-1; XlHbox-3;

                                                    Xhox-36

HOXA9   HOX1G    HOX-1.7

HOXA10  HOX1H    HOX-1.8                 PL

HOXA11  HOX1I    HOX-1.9                            Ghox-1i

HOXA12  HOX1J    HOX-1.10

HOXB1   HOX2I    HOX-2.9                            Ghox-lab; AHox1

HOXB2   HOX2H    HOX-2.8                 K8         s6

HOXB3   HOX2G    HOX-2.7   mh-23                    Chox-2.7; XlHox-2.7

HOXB4   HOX2F    HOX-2.6                            Chox-Z; Xhox-1A

HOXB5   HOX2A    HOX-2.1   Mu-1; H24.1   Hu-1; c10  Ohox-2.1; Ghox-2.1;

                                                    XlHbox-4; Xhox-1B; zf-21

HOXB6   HOX2B    HOX-2.2   mh-22A        Hu-2       Ghox-2.2; XlHox-2.2; zf-22

HOXB7   HOX2C    HOX-2.3   mh-22B; mub1  c1         R1b; XlHbox-2; MM3

HOXB8   HOX2D    HOX-2.4                            R1a; Chox-2.4

HOXB9   HOX2E    HOX-2.5                            XlHbox-6

HOXC4   HOX3E    HOX-3.5                 cp19       R3

HOXC5   HOX3D    HOX-3.4   Hox-6.2       cp11       XlHbox-5; NvHbox-3.4;

                                                    zf-25

HOXC6   HOX3C    HOX-3.3   Hox-6.1       c8; cp25   NvHox-1; FH-2; XlHbox-1;

                                                    AC1; zf-61

HOXC8   HOX3A    HOX-3.1   m31                      R4

HOXC9   HOX3B    HOX-3.2

HOXC10  HOX3I    HOX-3.6

HOXC11  HOX3H    HOX-3.7

HOXC12  HOX3F    HOX-3.8

HOXC13  HOX3G    HOX-3.9

HOXD1   HOX4G    HOX-4.9

HOXD3   HOX4A    HOX-4.1   mh-19                    R6

HOXD4   HOX4B    HOX-4.2   Hox-5.1       c13        Chox-A; zf-13

HOXD8   HOX4E    HOX-4.3   Hox-5.4                  Chox-M

HOXD9   HOX4C    HOX-4.4   Hox-5.2                  Chox-4.4

HOXD10  HOX4D    HOX-4.5   Hox-5.3       Hox4E      Chox-4.5; Chox-4d

HOXD11  HOX4F    HOX-4.6   Hox-5.5                  Chox-4.6; Ghox-4.6;

                                                    Chox-4e; NvHox-2

HOXD12  HOX4H    HOX-4.7   Hox-5.6                  Chox-4.7; Chox-4f

HOXD13  HOX4I    HOX-4.8   Hox-5.7                  Chox-4.8; Chox-4g

According to:

Amos Bairoch