A function for all posterior <i>Hoxd</i> genes during digit development?

Abstract

We conclude that a slight and transient deregulation of Hoxd13 expression can readily affect the relative lengths of limb segments and that all posterior Hoxd genes likely contribute to the final limb morphology. We discuss the difficulty to clearly assess the functional share of individual genes within such a gene family, where closely located neighbors, coding for homologous proteins, are regulated by a unique circuitry and all contribute to shape the distal parts of our appendages.