Expression of anterior Hox genes during larval development of the gastropod Haliotis asinina

Summary We report the spatial expression patterns of five anterior Hox genes during larval development of the gastropod mollusc Haliotis asinina , an unsegmented spiralian lophotrochozoan. Molecular alignments and phylogenetic analysis indicate that these genes are homologues of Drosophila HOM‐C genes labial , proboscipedia , zen , Deformed , and Sex combs reduced ; the abalone genes are named Has‐Hox1 , ‐Hox2 , ‐Hox3 , ‐Hox4 , and ‐Hox5 ....