Enhancers Facilitate the Birth of De Novo Genes and Gene Integration into Regulatory Networks.

ABSTRACT: Regulatory networks control the spatiotemporal gene expression patterns that give rise to and define the individual cell types of multicellular organisms. In eumetazoa, distal regulatory elements called enhancers play a key role in determining the structure of such networks, particularly the wiring diagram of "who regulates whom." Mutations that affect enhancer activity can therefore rewire regulatory networks, potentially causing adaptive changes in gene expression. Here, we use whole-tissue and single-cell transcriptomic and chromatin accessibility data from mouse to show that enhancers play an additional role in the evolution of regulatory networks: They facilitate network growth by creating transcriptionally active regions of open chromatin that are conducive to de novo gene evolution.

SUBMITTER: Majic P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7086177 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature