homeodomain

Introduction

The homeobox is a protein domain of 60 amino acid residues, 1st identified in Drosophila homeotic & segmentation proteins.

The homeobox domain is extremely well conserved in many other animals, including vertebrates. It binds DNA through a helix-turn-helix. Some proteins which contain a homeobox domain play an important role in development. Most of these proteins are sequence specific DNA-binding transcription factors.

Most proteins which contain a homeobox domain can be classified on the basis of sequence, into 1 of 3 subfamilies:

• engrailed
• antennapedia
• paired

More general terms

• helix-loop-helix (HLH)
• DNA-binding motif
• domain

More specific terms

• homeobox antennapedia type
• homeobox engrailed type
• homeobox tale type
• paired box
• POU domain