Human gene regulatory evolution is driven by the divergence of regulatory element function in both cis and trans.

ABSTRACT: Gene regulatory divergence between species can result from cis-acting local changes to regulatory element DNA sequences or global trans-acting changes to the regulatory environment. Understanding how these mechanisms drive regulatory evolution has been limited by challenges in identifying trans-acting changes. We present a comprehensive approach to directly identify cis- and trans-divergent regulatory elements between human and rhesus macaque lymphoblastoid cells using assay for transposase-accessible chromatin coupled to self-transcribing active regulatory region (ATAC-STARR) sequencing. In addition to thousands of cis changes, we discover an unexpected number (∼10,000) of trans changes and show that cis and trans elements exhibit distinct patterns of sequence divergence and function. We

SUBMITTER: Hansen TJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11019363 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature