Functionally conserved enhancers with divergent sequences in distant vertebrates
© 2015 Yang et al. Background: To examine the contributions of sequence and function conservation in the evolution of enhancers, we systematically identified enhancers whose sequences are not conserved among distant groups of vertebrate species, but have homologous function and are likely to be derived from a common ancestral sequence. Our approach combined comparative genomics and epigenomics to identify potential enhancer sequences in the genomes of three groups of distantly related vertebrate species. Results: We searched for sequences that were conserved within groups of closely related species but not between groups of more distant species, and were associated with an epigenetic mark of enhancer activity. To facilitate inferring orthology between non-conserved sequences, we limited our search to introns whose orthology could be unambiguously established by mapping the bracketing exons. We show that a subset of these non-conserved but syntenic sequences from the mouse and zebrafish genomes have homologous functions in a zebrafish transgenic enhancer assay. The conserved expression patterns driven by these enhancers are probably associated with short transcription factor-binding motifs present in the divergent sequences. Conclusions: We have identified numerous potential enhancers with divergent sequences but a conserved function. These results indicate that selection on function, rather than sequence, may be a common mode of enhancer evolution; evidence for selection at the sequence level is not a necessary criterion to define a gene regulatory element.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231; HL091495; R01HG005058; 1R01HG006768; R01HD059862; GM61390; 1R01DK090382; 1R01NS079231
- OSTI ID:
- 1618538
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1256483; OSTI ID: 1378614
- Journal Information:
- BMC Genomics, Journal Name: BMC Genomics Vol. 16 Journal Issue: 1; ISSN 1471-2164
- Publisher:
- Springer Science + Business MediaCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United Kingdom
- Language:
- English
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