The cnidarian-bilaterian ancestor possessed at least 56 homeoboxes: evidence from the starlet sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis

Table 2 Homeodomain families shared by two species but missing from the third (sorted by species and homeodomain class)

Class	Total number of shared families	Shared families missing in Hs	Shared families missing in Dm	Shared families missing in Nv
HOX	15*	1	1^†	6^†
other	20	4	1	3
CUT	2	0	0	2
HNF	1	0	1	0
LIM	6	0	0	3
POU	5	0	1	1
PRD	17	3	3	2
PROS	0	0	0	0
SINE	3	0	0	0
TALE	4	0	0	0
ZF	1	0	0	1
Total	73	8	7	18

*In the HOX class, IPF/XLOX is counted as a shared class because, even though it is not found in Drosophila, its presence in other protostome animals makes clear that its absence in the fruit fly is due to a secondary loss. ^†Secondary loss of IPF/XLOX is known to have occurred in Drosophila. This gene is found in other protostome animals and so, while it is scored as missing from Drosophila, it is also regarded as a shared family among bilaterians that is missing in Nematostella. Hs, Homo sapiens; Dm, Drosophila melanogaster; Nv, Nematostella vectensis.

ISSN: 1474-760X