Insights into Hox Protein Function from a Large Scale Combinatorial Analysis of Protein Domains

Insights into Hox Protein Function from a Large Scale Combinatorial Analysis of Protein Domains:
by Samir Merabet, Isma Litim-Mecheri, Daniel Karlsson, Richa Dixit, Mehdi Saadaoui, Bruno Monier, Christine Brun, Stefan Thor, K. Vijayraghavan, Laurent Perrin, Jacques Pradel, Yacine Graba


Protein function is encoded within protein sequence and protein domains. However, how protein domains cooperate within a protein to modulate overall activity and how this impacts functional diversification at the molecular and organism levels remains largely unaddressed. Focusing on three domains of the central class Drosophila Hox transcription factor AbdominalA (AbdA), we used combinatorial domain mutations and most known AbdA developmental functions as biological readouts to investigate how protein domains collectively shape protein activity. The results uncover redundancy, interactivity, and multifunctionality of protein domains as salient features underlying overall AbdA protein activity, providing means to apprehend functional diversity and accounting for the robustness of Hox-controlled developmental programs. Importantly, the results highlight context-dependency in protein domain usage and interaction, allowing major modifications in domains to be tolerated without general functional loss. The non-pleoitropic effect of domain mutation suggests that protein modification may contribute more broadly to molecular changes underlying morphological diversification during evolution, so far thought to rely largely on modification in gene cis-regulatory sequences.

A Conserved Developmental Patterning Network Produces Quantitatively Different Output in Multiple Species of Drosophila

A Conserved Developmental Patterning Network Produces Quantitatively Different Output in Multiple Species of Drosophila:
by Charless C. Fowlkes, Kelly B. Eckenrode, Meghan D. Bragdon, Miriah Meyer, Zeba Wunderlich, Lisa Simirenko, Cris L. Luengo Hendriks, Soile V. E. Keränen, Clara Henriquez, David W. Knowles, Mark D. Biggin, Michael B. Eisen, Angela H. DePace


Differences in the level, timing, or location of gene expression can contribute to alternative phenotypes at the molecular and organismal level. Understanding the origins of expression differences is complicated by the fact that organismal morphology and gene regulatory networks could potentially vary even between closely related species. To assess the scope of such changes, we used high-resolution imaging methods to measure mRNA expression in blastoderm embryos of Drosophila yakuba and Drosophila pseudoobscura and assembled these data into cellular resolution atlases, where expression levels for 13 genes in the segmentation network are averaged into species-specific, cellular resolution morphological frameworks. We demonstrate that the blastoderm embryos of these species differ in their morphology in terms of size, shape, and number of nuclei. We present an approach to compare cellular gene expression patterns between species, while accounting for varying embryo morphology, and apply it to our data and an equivalent dataset for Drosophila melanogaster. Our analysis reveals that all individual genes differ quantitatively in their spatio-temporal expression patterns between these species, primarily in terms of their relative position and dynamics. Despite many small quantitative differences, cellular gene expression profiles for the whole set of genes examined are largely similar. This suggests that cell types at this stage of development are conserved, though they can differ in their relative position by up to 3–4 cell widths and in their relative proportion between species by as much as 5-fold. Quantitative differences in the dynamics and relative level of a subset of genes between corresponding cell types may reflect altered regulatory functions between species. Our results emphasize that transcriptional networks can diverge over short evolutionary timescales and that even small changes can lead to distinct output in terms of the placement and number of equivalent cells.

A Protein Complex Network of Drosophila melanogaster

A Protein Complex Network of Drosophila melanogaster: K.G. Guruharsha, Jean-François Rual, Bo Zhai, Julian Mintseris, Pujita Vaidya, Namita Vaidya, Chapman Beekman, Christina Wong, David Y. Rhee, Odise Cenaj, Emily McKillip, Saumini Shah, Mark Stapleton, Kenneth H. Wan, Charles Yu, Bayan Parsa, Joseph W. Carlson, Xiao Chen, Bhaveen Kapadia, K. VijayRaghavan, Steven P. Gygi, Susan E. Celniker, Robert A. Obar, Spyros Artavanis-Tsakonas. Determining the composition of protein complexes is an essential step toward understanding the cell as an integrated system. Using coaffinity purification coupled to mass spectrometry analysis, we....

Lineage Regulators Direct BMP and Wnt Pathways to Cell-Specific Programs during Differentiation and Regeneration

Lineage Regulators Direct BMP and Wnt Pathways to Cell-Specific Programs during Differentiation and Regeneration: Eirini Trompouki, Teresa V. Bowman, Lee N. Lawton, Zi Peng Fan, Dai-Chen Wu, Anthony DiBiase, Corey S. Martin, Jennifer N. Cech, Anna K. Sessa, Jocelyn L. Leblanc, Pulin Li, Ellen M. Durand, Christian Mosimann, Garrett C. Heffner, George Q. Daley, Robert F. Paulson, Richard A. Young, Leonard I. Zon. BMP and Wnt signaling pathways control essential cellular responses through activation of the transcription factors SMAD (BMP) and TCF (Wnt). Here, we show that regeneration of hematopoietic linea....

A high-resolution map of human evolutionary constraint using 29 mammals

A high-resolution map of human evolutionary constraint using 29 mammals:

A high-resolution map of human evolutionary constraint using 29 mammals

Nature 478, 7370 (2011). doi:10.1038/nature10530

Authors: Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, Manuel Garber, Or Zuk, Michael F. Lin, Brian J. Parker, Stefan Washietl, Pouya Kheradpour, Jason Ernst, Gregory Jordan, Evan Mauceli, Lucas D. Ward, Craig B. Lowe, Alisha K. Holloway, Michele Clamp, Sante Gnerre, Jessica Alföldi, Kathryn Beal, Jean Chang, Hiram Clawson, James Cuff, Federica Di Palma, Stephen Fitzgerald, Paul Flicek, Mitchell Guttman, Melissa J. Hubisz, David B. Jaffe, Irwin Jungreis, W. James Kent, Dennis Kostka, Marcia Lara, Andre L. Martins, Tim Massingham, Ida Moltke, Brian J. Raney, Matthew D. Rasmussen, Jim Robinson, Alexander Stark, Albert J. Vilella, Jiayu Wen, Xiaohui Xie, Michael C. Zody, Kim C. Worley, Christie L. Kovar, Donna M. Muzny, Richard A. Gibbs, Wesley C. Warren, Elaine R. Mardis, George M. Weinstock, Richard K. Wilson, Ewan Birney, Elliott H. Margulies, Javier Herrero, Eric D. Green, David Haussler, Adam Siepel, Nick Goldman, Katherine S. Pollard, Jakob S. Pedersen, Eric S. Lander & Manolis Kellis

The comparison of related genomes has emerged as a powerful lens for genome interpretation. Here we report the sequencing and comparative analysis of 29 eutherian genomes. We confirm that at least 5.5% of the human genome has undergone purifying selection, and locate constrained elements covering

Dpp Signaling Activity Requires Pentagone to Scale with Tissue Size in the Growing Drosophila Wing Imaginal Disc

Dpp Signaling Activity Requires Pentagone to Scale with Tissue Size in the Growing Drosophila Wing Imaginal Disc:

by Fisun Hamaratoglu, Aitana Morton de Lachapelle, George Pyrowolakis, Sven Bergmann, Markus Affolter

The wing of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, with its simple, two-dimensional structure, is a model organ well suited for a systems biology approach. The wing arises from an epithelial sac referred to as the wing imaginal disc, which undergoes a phase of massive growth and concomitant patterning during larval stages. The Decapentaplegic (Dpp) morphogen plays a central role in wing formation with its ability to co-coordinately regulate patterning and growth. Here, we asked whether the Dpp signaling activity scales, i.e. expands proportionally, with the growing wing imaginal disc. Using new methods for spatial and temporal quantification of Dpp activity and its scaling properties, we found that the Dpp response scales with the size of the growing tissue. Notably, scaling is not perfect at all positions in the field and the scaling of target gene domains is ensured specifically where they define vein positions. We also found that the target gene domains are not defined at constant concentration thresholds of the downstream Dpp activity gradients P-Mad and Brinker. Most interestingly, Pentagone, an important secreted feedback regulator of the pathway, plays a central role in scaling and acts as an expander of the Dpp gradient during disc growth.

Notch/Delta signalling is not required for segment generation in the basally branching insect Gryllus bimaculatus [RESEARCH ARTICLES]

Notch/Delta signalling is not required for segment generation in the basally branching insect Gryllus bimaculatus [RESEARCH ARTICLES]: Franz Kainz, Ben Ewen-Campen, Michael Akam, and Cassandra G. Extavour

Arthropods and vertebrates display a segmental body organisation along all or part of the anterior-posterior axis. Whether this reflects a shared, ancestral developmental genetic mechanism for segmentation is uncertain. In vertebrates, segments are formed sequentially by a segmentation ‘clock’ of oscillating gene expression involving Notch pathway components. Recent studies in spiders and basal insects have suggested that segmentation in these arthropods also involves Notch-based signalling. These observations have been interpreted as evidence for a shared, ancestral gene network for insect, arthropod and bilaterian segmentation. However, because this pathway can play multiple roles in development, elucidating the specific requirements for Notch signalling is important for understanding the ancestry of segmentation. Here we show that Delta, a ligand of the Notch pathway, is not required for segment formation in the cricket Gryllus bimaculatus, which retains ancestral characteristics of arthropod embryogenesis. Segment patterning genes are expressed before Delta in abdominal segments, and Delta expression does not oscillate in the pre-segmental region or in formed segments. Instead, Delta is required for neuroectoderm and mesectoderm formation; embryos missing these tissues are developmentally delayed and show defects in segment morphology but normal segment number. Thus, what initially appear to be ‘segmentation phenotypes’ can in fact be due to developmental delays and cell specification errors. Our data do not support an essential or ancestral role of Notch signalling in segment generation across the arthropods, and show that the pleiotropy of the Notch pathway can confound speculation on possible segmentation mechanisms in the last common bilaterian ancestor.

miR-124 function during Ciona intestinalis neuronal development includes extensive interaction with the Notch signaling pathway [RESEARCH ARTICLES]

miR-124 function during Ciona intestinalis neuronal development includes extensive interaction with the Notch signaling pathway [RESEARCH ARTICLES]: Jerry S. Chen, Matthew San Pedro, and Robert W. Zeller

The nervous system-enriched microRNA miR-124 is necessary for proper nervous system development, although the mechanism remains poorly understood. Here, through a comprehensive analysis of miR-124 and its gene targets, we demonstrate that, in the chordate ascidian Ciona intestinalis, miR-124 plays an extensive role in promoting nervous system development. We discovered that feedback interaction between miR-124 and Notch signaling regulates the epidermal-peripheral nervous system (PNS) fate choice in tail midline cells. Notch signaling silences miR-124 in epidermal midline cells, whereas in PNS midline cells miR-124 silences Notch, Neuralized and all three Ciona Hairy/Enhancer-of-Split genes. Furthermore, ectopic expression of miR-124 is sufficient to convert epidermal midline cells into PNS neurons, consistent with a role in modulating Notch signaling. More broadly, genome-wide target extraction with validation using an in vivo tissue-specific sensor assay indicates that miR-124 shapes neuronal progenitor fields by downregulating non-neural genes, notably the muscle specifier Macho-1 and 50 Brachyury-regulated notochord genes, as well as several anti-neural factors including SCP1 and PTBP1. 3'UTR conservation analysis reveals that miR-124 targeting of SCP1 is likely to have arisen as a shared, derived trait in the vertebrate/tunicate ancestor and targeting of PTBP1 is conserved among bilaterians except for ecdysozoans, while extensive Notch pathway targeting appears to be Ciona specific. Altogether, our results provide a comprehensive insight into the specific mechanisms by which miR-124 promotes neuronal development.

A computational statistics approach for estimating the spatial range of morphogen gradients [RESEARCH ARTICLES]

A computational statistics approach for estimating the spatial range of morphogen gradients [RESEARCH ARTICLES]: Jitendra S. Kanodia, Yoosik Kim, Raju Tomer, Zia Khan, Kwanghun Chung, John D. Storey, Hang Lu, Philipp J. Keller, and Stanislav Y. Shvartsman

A crucial issue in studies of morphogen gradients relates to their range: the distance over which they can act as direct regulators of cell signaling, gene expression and cell differentiation. To address this, we present a straightforward statistical framework that can be used in multiple developmental systems. We illustrate the developed approach by providing a point estimate and confidence interval for the spatial range of the graded distribution of nuclear Dorsal, a transcription factor that controls the dorsoventral pattern of the Drosophila embryo.

Searching ChIP-seq genomic islands for combinatorial regulatory codes in mouse embryonic stem cells

Searching ChIP-seq genomic islands for combinatorial regulatory codes in mouse embryonic stem cells: Background:
To facilitate deciphering underlying transcriptional regulatory circuits in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells, recent ChIP-seq data provided genome-wide binding locations of several key transcription factors (TFs); meanwhile, existing efforts profiled gene expression in ES cells and in their early differentiated state. It has been shown that the gene expression profiles are correlated with the binding of these TFs. However, it remains unclear whether other TFs, referred to as cofactors, participate the gene regulation by collaborating with the ChIP-seq TFs.
Results:
Based on our analyses of the ES gene expression profiles and binding sites of potential cofactors in vicinity of the ChIP-seq TF binding locations, we identified a list of co-binding features that show significantly different characteristics between different gene expression patterns (activated or repressed gene expression in ES cells) at a false discovery rate of 10%. Gene classification with a subset of the identified features achieved up to 20% improvement over classification only based on the ChIP-seq TFs. More than 1/3 of reasoned regulatory roles of cofactor candidates involved in these features are supported by existing literatures. Finally, the predicted target genes of the majority candidates present expected expression change in another independent data set, which serves as a supplementary validation of these candidates.
Conclusions:
Our results revealed a list of combinatorial genomic features that are significantly associated with gene expression in ES cells, suggesting potential cofactors of the ChIP-seq TFs for gene regulation.

Searching ChIP-seq genomic islands for combinatorial regulatory codes in mouse embryonic stem cells

Searching ChIP-seq genomic islands for combinatorial regulatory codes in mouse embryonic stem cells: Background:
To facilitate deciphering underlying transcriptional regulatory circuits in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells, recent ChIP-seq data provided genome-wide binding locations of several key transcription factors (TFs); meanwhile, existing efforts profiled gene expression in ES cells and in their early differentiated state. It has been shown that the gene expression profiles are correlated with the binding of these TFs. However, it remains unclear whether other TFs, referred to as cofactors, participate the gene regulation by collaborating with the ChIP-seq TFs.
Results:
Based on our analyses of the ES gene expression profiles and binding sites of potential cofactors in vicinity of the ChIP-seq TF binding locations, we identified a list of co-binding features that show significantly different characteristics between different gene expression patterns (activated or repressed gene expression in ES cells) at a false discovery rate of 10%. Gene classification with a subset of the identified features achieved up to 20% improvement over classification only based on the ChIP-seq TFs. More than 1/3 of reasoned regulatory roles of cofactor candidates involved in these features are supported by existing literatures. Finally, the predicted target genes of the majority candidates present expected expression change in another independent data set, which serves as a supplementary validation of these candidates.
Conclusions:
Our results revealed a list of combinatorial genomic features that are significantly associated with gene expression in ES cells, suggesting potential cofactors of the ChIP-seq TFs for gene regulation.

Temporal Coordination of Gene Networks by Zelda in the Early Drosophila Embryo

Temporal Coordination of Gene Networks by Zelda in the Early Drosophila Embryo:
by Chung-Yi Nien, Hsiao-Lan Liang, Stephen Butcher, Yujia Sun, Shengbo Fu, Tenzin Gocha, Nikolai Kirov, J. Robert Manak, Christine Rushlow


In past years, much attention has focused on the gene networks that regulate early developmental processes, but less attention has been paid to how multiple networks and processes are temporally coordinated. Recently the discovery of the transcriptional activator Zelda (Zld), which binds to CAGGTAG and related sequences present in the enhancers of many early-activated genes in Drosophila, hinted at a mechanism for how batteries of genes could be simultaneously activated. Here we use genome-wide binding and expression assays to identify Zld target genes in the early embryo with the goal of unraveling the gene circuitry regulated by Zld. We found that Zld binds to genes involved in early developmental processes such as cellularization, sex determination, neurogenesis, and pattern formation. In the absence of Zld, many target genes failed to be activated, while others, particularly the patterning genes, exhibited delayed transcriptional activation, some of which also showed weak and/or sporadic expression. These effects disrupted the normal sequence of patterning-gene interactions and resulted in highly altered spatial expression patterns, demonstrating the significance of a timing mechanism in early development. In addition, we observed prevalent overlap between Zld-bound regions and genomic “hotspot” regions, which are bound by many developmental transcription factors, especially the patterning factors. This, along with the finding that the most over-represented motif in hotspots, CAGGTA, is the Zld binding site, implicates Zld in promoting hotspot formation. We propose that Zld promotes timely and robust transcriptional activation of early-gene networks so that developmental events are coordinated and cell fates are established properly in the cellular blastoderm embryo.

Interesting because Mike Levine has stated that my previous work was due to altering Zelda motifs, not Dorsal-Twist interactions Crocker et al 2008, Crocker et al 2010.  

Zelda Binding in the Early Drosophila melanogaster Embryo Marks Regions Subsequently Activated at the Maternal-to-Zygotic Transition

Zelda Binding in the Early Drosophila melanogaster Embryo Marks Regions Subsequently Activated at the Maternal-to-Zygotic Transition:
by Melissa M. Harrison, Xiao-Yong Li, Tommy Kaplan, Michael R. Botchan, Michael B. Eisen


The earliest stages of development in most metazoans are driven by maternally deposited proteins and mRNAs, with widespread transcriptional activation of the zygotic genome occurring hours after fertilization, at a period known as the maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT). In Drosophila, the MZT is preceded by the transcription of a small number of genes that initiate sex determination, patterning, and other early developmental processes; and the zinc-finger protein Zelda (ZLD) plays a key role in their transcriptional activation. To better understand the mechanisms of ZLD activation and the range of its targets, we used chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled with high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-Seq) to map regions bound by ZLD before (mitotic cycle 8), during (mitotic cycle 13), and after (late mitotic cycle 14) the MZT. Although only a handful of genes are transcribed prior to mitotic cycle 10, we identified thousands of regions bound by ZLD in cycle 8 embryos, most of which remain bound through mitotic cycle 14. As expected, early ZLD-bound regions include the promoters and enhancers of genes transcribed at this early stage. However, we also observed ZLD bound at cycle 8 to the promoters of roughly a thousand genes whose first transcription does not occur until the MZT and to virtually all of the thousands of known and presumed enhancers bound at cycle 14 by transcription factors that regulate patterned gene activation during the MZT. The association between early ZLD binding and MZT activity is so strong that ZLD binding alone can be used to identify active promoters and regulatory sequences with high specificity and selectivity. This strong early association of ZLD with regions not active until the MZT suggests that ZLD is not only required for the earliest wave of transcription but also plays a major role in activating the genome at the MZT.

Novel Function of Distal-less as a Gap Gene during Spider Segmentation

Novel Function of Distal-less as a Gap Gene during Spider Segmentation:
by Matthias Pechmann, Sara Khadjeh, Natascha Turetzek, Alistair P. McGregor, Wim G. M. Damen, Nikola-Michael Prpic


Despite many aspects of the regulation of segmentation being conserved among arthropods, the evolution of novel gene functions has played an important role in the evolution of developmental regulation and the emergence of new segmental structures. Moreover the study of such novel gene functions can be informative with respect to the patterns and direction of evolutionary changes in developmental programs. The homeobox gene Distal-less (Dll) is known for its conserved function in appendage development in metazoans. In arthropods, Dll is required for the specification of distal appendage structures. Here we describe a novel and unexpected role of Dll in the spider Achaearanea tepidariorum. We detect At-Dll transcripts not only in the appendages, but unexpectedly also in an anterior domain during early development, prior to the specification of the limb primordia. A similar early Dll domain is present in the distantly related spider Pholcus phalangioides. In A. tepidariorum this early At-Dll expression is required for head segmentation. RNA interference results in spiders that lack either the first or the first and the second walking leg segments. The early At-Dll expression is also required for the activation of the segment polarity genes engrailed and hedgehog in this region. Our work identifies the Distal-less gene as a novel factor in anterior spider segmentation with a gap gene-like function. This novel role of Dll is interesting because Dll expression is reduced in this region in crustaceans and the homologous insect segment, the mandible segment, does not express Dll and does not require this gene for patterning. We therefore discuss the possible implications of our results for understanding the evolution and diversification of the mandible segment.

The evolution of gene expression levels in mammalian organs

The evolution of gene expression levels in mammalian organs:

The evolution of gene expression levels in mammalian organs

Nature 478, 7369 (2011). doi:10.1038/nature10532

Authors: David Brawand, Magali Soumillon, Anamaria Necsulea, Philippe Julien, Gábor Csárdi, Patrick Harrigan, Manuela Weier, Angélica Liechti, Ayinuer Aximu-Petri, Martin Kircher, Frank W. Albert, Ulrich Zeller, Philipp Khaitovich, Frank Grützner, Sven Bergmann, Rasmus Nielsen, Svante Pääbo & Henrik Kaessmann

Changes in gene expression are thought to underlie many of the phenotypic differences between species. However, large-scale analyses of gene expression evolution were until recently prevented by technological limitations. Here we report the sequencing of polyadenylated RNA from six organs across ten species that represent

Animal Transcription Networks as Highly Connected, Quantitative Continua

Animal Transcription Networks as Highly Connected, Quantitative Continua: Mark D. Biggin. To understand how transcription factors function, it is essential to determine the range of genes that they each bind and regulate in vivo. Here I review evidence that most animal transcription fa....

Deciphering Gene Expression Patterns

Deciphering Gene Expression Patterns: Norbert Perrimon. Large-scale studies in various model systems including Drosophila, fish, and the mouse have documented the exquisite temporal and spatial expression patterns of thousands of genes during de....

Preventing Dangerous Nonsense: Selection for Robustness to Transcriptional Error in Human Genes

Preventing Dangerous Nonsense: Selection for Robustness to Transcriptional Error in Human Genes:

by Brian P. Cusack, Peter F. Arndt, Laurent Duret, Hugues Roest Crollius

Nonsense Mediated Decay (NMD) degrades transcripts that contain a premature STOP codon resulting from mistranscription or missplicing. However NMD's surveillance of gene expression varies in efficiency both among and within human genes. Previous work has shown that the intron content of human genes is influenced by missplicing events invisible to NMD. Given the high rate of transcriptional errors in eukaryotes, we hypothesized that natural selection has promoted a dual strategy of “prevention and cure” to alleviate the problem of nonsense transcriptional errors. A prediction of this hypothesis is that NMD's inefficiency should leave a signature of “transcriptional robustness” in human gene sequences that reduces the frequency of nonsense transcriptional errors. For human genes we determined the usage of “fragile” codons, prone to mistranscription into STOP codons, relative to the usage of “robust” codons that do not generate nonsense errors. We observe that single-exon genes have evolved to become robust to mistranscription, because they show a significant tendency to avoid fragile codons relative to robust codons when compared to multi-exon genes. A similar depletion is evident in last exons of multi-exon genes. Histone genes are particularly depleted of fragile codons and thus highly robust to transcriptional errors. Finally, the protein products of single-exon genes show a strong tendency to avoid those amino acids that can only be encoded using fragile codons. Each of these observations can be attributed to NMD deficiency. Thus, in the human genome, wherever the “cure” for nonsense (i.e. NMD) is inefficient, there is increased reliance on the strategy of nonsense “prevention” (i.e. transcriptional robustness). This study shows that human genes are exposed to the deleterious influence of transcriptional errors. Moreover, it suggests that gene expression errors are an underestimated phenomenon, in molecular evolution in general and in selection for genomic robustness in particular.

[Report] The Dynamic Architecture of Hox Gene Clusters

[Report] The Dynamic Architecture of Hox Gene Clusters: Sequential activation of Hox genes correlates with a transition of negative to positive three-dimensional chromosome structure.

Authors: Daan Noordermeer, Marion Leleu, Erik Splinter, Jacques Rougemont, Wouter De Laat, Denis Duboule

Regulatory elements required for the activation and repression of the protocadherin-{alpha} gene cluster [Neuroscience]

Regulatory elements required for the activation and repression of the protocadherin-{alpha} gene cluster [Neuroscience]: The mouse protocadherin (Pcdh) -α, -β, and -γ gene clusters encode more than 50 protein isoforms, the combinatorial expression of which generates vast single-cell diversity in the brain. At present, the mechanisms by which this diversity is expressed are not understood. Here we show that two transcriptional enhancer elements, HS5-1 and HS7, play a critical role in Pcdhα gene expression in mice. We show that the HS5-1 element functions as an enhancer in neurons and a silencer in nonneuronal cells. The enhancer activity correlates with the binding of zinc finger DNA binding protein CTCF to the target promoters, and the silencer activity requires the binding of the REST/NRSF repressor complex in nonneuronal cells. Thus, the HS5-1 element functions as a neuron-specific enhancer and nonneuronal cell repressor. In contrast, the HS7 element functions as a Pcdhα cluster-wide transcription enhancer element. These studies reveal a complex organization of regulatory elements required for generating single cell Pcdh diversity.

Joint morphology in the insect leg: evolutionary history inferred from Notch loss-of-function phenotypes in Drosophila [RESEARCH REPORT]

Joint morphology in the insect leg: evolutionary history inferred from Notch loss-of-function phenotypes in Drosophila [RESEARCH REPORT]: Reiko Tajiri, Kazuyo Misaki, Shigenobu Yonemura, and Shigeo Hayashi

Joints permit efficient locomotion, especially among animals with a rigid skeleton. Joint morphologies vary in the body of individual animals, and the shapes of homologous joints often differ across species. The diverse locomotive behaviors of animals are based, in part, on the developmental and evolutionary history of joint morphogenesis. We showed previously that strictly coordinated cell-differentiation and cell-movement events within the epidermis sculpt the interlocking ball-and-socket joints in the adult Drosophila tarsus (distal leg). Here, we show that the tarsal joints of various insect species can be classified into three types: ball-and-socket, side-by-side and uniform. The last two probably result from joint formation without the cell-differentiation step, the cell-movement step, or both. Similar morphological variations were observed in Drosophila legs when Notch function was temporarily blocked during joint formation, implying that the independent acquisition of cell differentiation and cell movement underlay the elaboration of tarsal joint morphologies during insect evolution. These results provide a framework for understanding how the seemingly complex morphology of the interlocking joint could have developed during evolution by the addition of simple developmental modules: cell differentiation and cell movement.

Copy-Number Variation: The Balance between Gene Dosage and Expression in Drosophila melanogaster

Copy-Number Variation: The Balance between Gene Dosage and Expression in Drosophila melanogaster:

Copy-number variants (CNVs) reshape gene structure, modulate gene expression, and contribute to significant phenotypic variation. Previous studies have revealed CNV patterns in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster and suggested that selection and mutational bias shape genomic patterns of CNV. Although previous CNV studies focused on heterogeneous strains, here, we established a number of second-chromosome substitution lines to uncover CNV characteristics when homozygous. The percentage of genes harboring CNVs is higher than found in previous studies. More CNVs are detected in homozygous than heterozygous substitution strains, suggesting the comparative genomic hybridization arrays underestimate CNV owing to heterozygous masking. We incorporated previous gene expression data collected from some of the same substitution lines to investigate relationships between CNV gene dosage and expression. Most genes present in CNVs show no evidence of increased or diminished transcription, and the fraction of such dosage-insensitive CNVs is greater in heterozygotes. More than 70% of the dosage-sensitive CNVs are recessive with undetectable effects on transcription in heterozygotes. A deficiency of singletons in recessive dosage-sensitive CNVs supports the hypothesis that most CNVs are subject to negative selection. On the other hand, relaxed purifying selection might account for the higher number of protein–protein interactions in dosage-insensitive CNVs than in dosage-sensitive CNVs. Dosage-sensitive CNVs that are upregulated and downregulated coincide with copy-number increases and decreases. Our results help clarify the relation between CNV dosage and gene expression in the D. melanogaster genome.

Formation of Regulatory Modules by Local Sequence Duplication

Formation of Regulatory Modules by Local Sequence Duplication:
by Armita Nourmohammad, Michael Lässig


Turnover of regulatory sequence and function is an important part of molecular evolution. But what are the modes of sequence evolution leading to rapid formation and loss of regulatory sites? Here we show that a large fraction of neighboring transcription factor binding sites in the fly genome have formed from a common sequence origin by local duplications. This mode of evolution is found to produce regulatory information: duplications can seed new sites in the neighborhood of existing sites. Duplicate seeds evolve subsequently by point mutations, often towards binding a different factor than their ancestral neighbor sites. These results are based on a statistical analysis of 346 cis-regulatory modules in the Drosophila melanogaster genome, and a comparison set of intergenic regulatory sequence in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In fly regulatory modules, pairs of binding sites show significantly enhanced sequence similarity up to distances of about 50 bp. We analyze these data in terms of an evolutionary model with two distinct modes of site formation: (i) evolution from independent sequence origin and (ii) divergent evolution following duplication of a common ancestor sequence. Our results suggest that pervasive formation of binding sites by local sequence duplications distinguishes the complex regulatory architecture of higher eukaryotes from the simpler architecture of unicellular organisms.

Development and Evolution of the Muscles of the Pelvic Fin

Development and Evolution of the Muscles of the Pelvic Fin:
by Nicholas J. Cole, Thomas E. Hall, Emily K. Don, Silke Berger, Catherine A. Boisvert, Christine Neyt, Rolf Ericsson, Jean Joss, David B. Gurevich, Peter D. Currie


Locomotor strategies in terrestrial tetrapods have evolved from the utilisation of sinusoidal contractions of axial musculature, evident in ancestral fish species, to the reliance on powerful and complex limb muscles to provide propulsive force. Within tetrapods, a hindlimb-dominant locomotor strategy predominates, and its evolution is considered critical for the evident success of the tetrapod transition onto land. Here, we determine the developmental mechanisms of pelvic fin muscle formation in living fish species at critical points within the vertebrate phylogeny and reveal a stepwise modification from a primitive to a more derived mode of pelvic fin muscle formation. A distinct process generates pelvic fin muscle in bony fishes that incorporates both primitive and derived characteristics of vertebrate appendicular muscle formation. We propose that the adoption of the fully derived mode of hindlimb muscle formation from this bimodal character state is an evolutionary innovation that was critical to the success of the tetrapod transition.

Gorilla genome structural variation reveals evolutionary parallelisms with chimpanzee [RESEARCH]

Gorilla genome structural variation reveals evolutionary parallelisms with chimpanzee [RESEARCH]:

Structural variation has played an important role in the evolutionary restructuring of human and great ape genomes. Recent analyses have suggested that the genomes of chimpanzee and human have been particularly enriched for this form of genetic variation. Here, we set out to assess the extent of structural variation in the gorilla lineage by generating 10-fold genomic sequence coverage from a western lowland gorilla and integrating these data into a physical and cytogenetic framework of structural variation. We discovered and validated over 7665 structural changes within the gorilla lineage, including sequence resolution of inversions, deletions, duplications, and mobile element insertions. A comparison with human and other ape genomes shows that the gorilla genome has been subjected to the highest rate of segmental duplication. We show that both the gorilla and chimpanzee genomes have experienced independent yet convergent patterns of structural mutation that have not occurred in humans, including the formation of subtelomeric heterochromatic caps, the hyperexpansion of segmental duplications, and bursts of retroviral integrations. Our analysis suggests that the chimpanzee and gorilla genomes are structurally more derived than either orangutan or human genomes.

Open chromatin defined by DNaseI and FAIRE identifies regulatory elements that shape cell-type identity [RESOURCES]

Open chromatin defined by DNaseI and FAIRE identifies regulatory elements that shape cell-type identity [RESOURCES]:

The human body contains thousands of unique cell types, each with specialized functions. Cell identity is governed in large part by gene transcription programs, which are determined by regulatory elements encoded in DNA. To identify regulatory elements active in seven cell lines representative of diverse human cell types, we used DNase-seq and FAIRE-seq (Formaldehyde Assisted Isolation of Regulatory Elements) to map "open chromatin." Over 870,000 DNaseI or FAIRE sites, which correspond tightly to nucleosome-depleted regions, were identified across the seven cell lines, covering nearly 9% of the genome. The combination of DNaseI and FAIRE is more effective than either assay alone in identifying likely regulatory elements, as judged by coincidence with transcription factor binding locations determined in the same cells. Open chromatin common to all seven cell types tended to be at or near transcription start sites and to be coincident with CTCF binding sites, while open chromatin sites found in only one cell type were typically located away from transcription start sites and contained DNA motifs recognized by regulators of cell-type identity. We show that open chromatin regions bound by CTCF are potent insulators. We identified clusters of open regulatory elements (COREs) that were physically near each other and whose appearance was coordinated among one or more cell types. Gene expression and RNA Pol II binding data support the hypothesis that COREs control gene activity required for the maintenance of cell-type identity. This publicly available atlas of regulatory elements may prove valuable in identifying noncoding DNA sequence variants that are causally linked to human disease.

Characterization of complex chromosomal rearrangements by targeted capture and next-generation sequencing [METHOD]

Characterization of complex chromosomal rearrangements by targeted capture and next-generation sequencing [METHOD]:

Translocations are a common class of chromosomal aberrations and can cause disease by physically disrupting genes or altering their regulatory environment. Some translocations, apparently balanced at the microscopic level, include deletions, duplications, insertions, or inversions at the molecular level. Traditionally, chromosomal rearrangements have been investigated with a conventional banded karyotype followed by arduous positional cloning projects. More recently, molecular cytogenetic approaches using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH), or whole-genome SNP genotyping together with molecular methods such as inverse PCR and quantitative PCR have allowed more precise evaluation of the breakpoints. These methods suffer, however, from being experimentally intensive and time-consuming and of less than single base pair resolution. Here we describe targeted breakpoint capture followed by next-generation sequencing (TBCS) as a new approach to the general problem of determining the precise structural characterization of translocation breakpoints and related chromosomal aberrations. We tested this approach in three patients with complex chromosomal translocations: The first had craniofacial abnormalities and an apparently balanced t(2;3)(p15;q12) translocation; the second has cleidocranial dysplasia (OMIM 119600) associated with a t(2;6)(q22;p12.3) translocation and a breakpoint in RUNX2 on chromosome 6p; and the third has acampomelic campomelic dysplasia (OMIM 114290) associated with a t(5;17)(q23.2;q24) translocation, with a breakpoint upstream of SOX9 on chromosome 17q. Preliminary studies indicated complex rearrangements in patients 1 and 3 with a total of 10 predicted breakpoints in the three patients. By using TBCS, we quickly and precisely defined eight of the 10 breakpoints.

Gorilla genome structural variation reveals evolutionary parallelisms with chimpanzee [RESEARCH]

Gorilla genome structural variation reveals evolutionary parallelisms with chimpanzee [RESEARCH]:

Structural variation has played an important role in the evolutionary restructuring of human and great ape genomes. Recent analyses have suggested that the genomes of chimpanzee and human have been particularly enriched for this form of genetic variation. Here, we set out to assess the extent of structural variation in the gorilla lineage by generating 10-fold genomic sequence coverage from a western lowland gorilla and integrating these data into a physical and cytogenetic framework of structural variation. We discovered and validated over 7665 structural changes within the gorilla lineage, including sequence resolution of inversions, deletions, duplications, and mobile element insertions. A comparison with human and other ape genomes shows that the gorilla genome has been subjected to the highest rate of segmental duplication. We show that both the gorilla and chimpanzee genomes have experienced independent yet convergent patterns of structural mutation that have not occurred in humans, including the formation of subtelomeric heterochromatic caps, the hyperexpansion of segmental duplications, and bursts of retroviral integrations. Our analysis suggests that the chimpanzee and gorilla genomes are structurally more derived than either orangutan or human genomes.

Regulation of nucleosome landscape and transcription factor targeting at tissue-specific enhancers by BRG1 [RESEARCH]

Regulation of nucleosome landscape and transcription factor targeting at tissue-specific enhancers by BRG1 [RESEARCH]:

Enhancers of transcription activate transcription via binding of sequence-specific transcription factors to their target sites in chromatin. In this report, we identify GATA1-bound distal sites genome-wide and find a global reorganization of the nucleosomes at these potential enhancers during differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) to erythrocytes. We show that the catalytic subunit BRG1 of BAF complexes localizes to these distal sites during differentiation and generates a longer nucleosome linker region surrounding the GATA1 sites by shifting the flanking nucleosomes away. Intriguingly, we find that the nucleosome shifting specifically facilitates binding of TAL1 but not GATA1 and is linked to subsequent transcriptional regulation of target genes.