An Evo-Devo study for mechanisms of early embryogenesis in vertebrates

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Xenopus siamois is a homeobox gene cording for a transcriptional mediator of the dorsal Wnt signaling pathway and is necessary for the head formation. Despite its importance in Xenopus development, no siamois-related genes have been found in other taxa. In this study, I found a novel siamois-related gene, dioskouroi, in bichir. The bichir gene, which is different from siamois, plays roles in not only organizer formation but also endoderm differentiation endogenously. These results lead to a hypothesis that the siamois-related protogene in a common ancestor of bony fishes played central role in early embryogenesis.