Functional analysis of newly acquired genes that directed the evolution of chordates.

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I analyzed the function of genes that were involved in the establishment of the chordate-specific body plan. Retinoic acid has been thought to function only in vertebrate embryos. In the present study, I demonstrated that retinoic acid contributed to organogenesis in the ascidian embryo, through the activation of the Hox1 gene. I also demonstrated that the growth factor, Nodal, was required for morphogenesis of the dorsal neural tube, which was a chordate-specific feature. The transcription factor, Cdx, was revealed to mediatethe Nodal signal and regulates neural tube formation.