In evolutionary developmental biology, Paired box (Pax) genes are a family of genes coding for tissue specific transcription factors containing an N-terminal paired domain and usually a partial, or in the case of four family members (PAX3, PAX4, PAX6 and PAX7),[1] a complete homeodomain to the C-terminus. An octapeptide as well as a Pro-Ser-Thr-rich C terminus may also be present.[2] Pax proteins are important in early animal development for the specification of specific tissues, as well as during epimorphic limb regeneration in animals capable of such.
The paired domain was initially described in 1987 as the "paired box" in the Drosophila protein paired (prd; P06601).[3][4]
^Chi, N; Epstein, JA (January 2002). "Getting your Pax straight: Pax proteins in development and disease". Trends in Genetics. 18 (1): 41–7. doi:10.1016/s0168-9525(01)02594-x. PMID11750700.
^Bopp, D; Burri, M; Baumgartner, S; Frigerio, G; Noll, M (26 December 1986). "Conservation of a large protein domain in the segmentation gene paired and in functionally related genes of Drosophila". Cell. 47 (6): 1033–40. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(86)90818-4. PMID2877747. S2CID21943167.