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 [1–5]. 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.