The regulatory content of intergenic DNA shapes genome architecture.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Factors affecting the organization and spacing of functionally unrelated genes in metazoan genomes are not well understood. Because of the vast size of a typical metazoan genome compared to known regulatory and protein-coding regions, functional DNA is generally considered to have a negligible impact on gene spacing and genome organization. In particular, it has been impossible to estimate the global impact, if any, of regulatory elements on genome architecture.

Results

To investigate this, we examined the relationship between regulatory complexity and gene spacing in Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster. We found that gene density directly reflects local regulatory complexity, such that the amount of noncoding DNA between a gene and its nearest neig

SUBMITTER: Nelson CE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC395784 | biostudies-literature | 2004

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature