Identification of eight homeobox-containing transcripts expressed during larval development and at metamorphosis in the gastropod mollusc Haliotis rufescens.

The red abalone, Haliotis rufescens, is an especially tractable experimental model for studying molecular and cellular changes that occur at metamorphosis, because synchronous settlement and metamorphosis of the planktonic larvae can be induced in the laboratory. Using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction with degenerate primers based on the Drosophila Antennapedia-class homeodomain consensus sequence, eight differentially transcribed...