Evolution of the Homeobox Complex in the Diptera.

The homeobox-complex (HOX-C) programs much of the basic body plan and forms, in most metazoans, one continuous cluster with the order of genes paralleling their order of expression along the body axis. Here we compare the HOX-C organization of several Drosophila species and of Anopheles gambiae, a representative of lower Dipterans. We develop a model to account for the evolution of the HOX-C in the Diptera. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]