Accelerated evolution of an Lhx2 enhancer shapes mammalian social hierarchies.

ABSTRACT: Social hierarchies emerged during evolution, and social rank influences behavior and health of individuals. However, the evolutionary mechanisms of social hierarchy are still unknown in amniotes. Here we developed a new method and performed a genome-wide screening for identifying regions with accelerated evolution in the ancestral lineage of placental mammals, where mammalian social hierarchies might have initially evolved. Then functional analyses were conducted for the most accelerated region designated as placental-accelerated sequence 1 (PAS1, P = 3.15 × 10^-18). Multiple pieces of evidence show that PAS1 is an enhancer of the transcription factor gene Lhx2 involved in brain development. PAS1s isolated from various amniotes showed different cis-regulatory activity in vitro, a

SUBMITTER: Wang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7196073 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature