Molecular mechanisms of Hox specificity and functional diversity

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One of the fundamental challenges in biology is to understand how morphological and functional diversity arises during development of bilateral animals. Hox genes encode one important class of broadly expressed transcription factors that regulate cell diversity along the anterior-posterior body axis. However, how they achieve their functional specificity in various tissues is not well understood. In this project, liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry will be applied to elucidate the post-translational molecular mechanisms and co-factors through which Ultrabithorax, a Drosophila Hox protein achieves its functional specificity. Initial analyses will be performed in Drosophila cell culture, followed by investigation of the significance of identified mechanisms in embryos and larvae.