Evolutionary comparison reveals that diverging CTCF sites are signatures of ancestral topological associating domains borders.

ABSTRACT: Increasing evidence in the last years indicates that the vast amount of regulatory information contained in mammalian genomes is organized in precise 3D chromatin structures. However, the impact of this spatial chromatin organization on gene expression and its degree of evolutionary conservation is still poorly understood. The Six homeobox genes are essential developmental regulators organized in gene clusters conserved during evolution. Here, we reveal that the Six clusters share a deeply evolutionarily conserved 3D chromatin organization that predates the Cambrian explosion. This chromatin architecture generates two largely independent regulatory landscapes (RLs) contained in two adjacent topological associating domains (TADs). By disrupting the conserved TAD border in one of the zebrafi

SUBMITTER: Gomez-Marin C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4475986 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature