Dataset Information

Evolved Repression Overcomes Enhancer Robustness

ABSTRACT: Biological systems display extraordinary robustness. Robustness of transcriptional enhancers results mainly from clusters of binding sites for the same transcription factor, and it is not clear how robust enhancers can evolve loss of expression through point mutations. Here, we report the high-resolution functional dissection of a robust enhancer of the shavenbaby gene that has contributed to morphological evolution. We found that robustness is encoded by many binding sites for the transcriptional activator Arrowhead and that, during evolution, some of these activator sites were lost, weakening enhancer activity. Complete silencing of enhancer function, however, required evolution of a binding site for the spatially restricted potent repressor Abrupt. These findings illustrate that recruitment of repressor binding sites can overcome enhancer robustness and may minimize pleiotropic consequences of enhancer evolution. Recruitment of repression may be a general mode of evolution to break robust regulatory linkages.

ORGANISM(S): Drosophila melanogaster

PROVIDER: GSE80790 | GEO | 2018/04/28

REPOSITORIES: GEO

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:Karapetyan2016 - Genetic oscillatory network - Activator Titration Circuit (ATC) This model is described in the article: Role of DNA binding sites and slow unbinding kinetics in titration-based oscillators. Karapetyan S, Buchler NE. Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys 2015 Dec; 92(6-1): 062712 Abstract: Genetic oscillators, such as circadian clocks, are constantly perturbed by molecular noise arising from the small number of molecules involved in gene regulation. One of the strongest sources of stochasticity is the binary noise that arises from the binding of a regulatory protein to a promoter in the chromosomal DNA. In this study, we focus on two minimal oscillators based on activator titration and repressor titration to understand the key parameters that are important for oscillations and for overcoming binary noise. We show that the rate of unbinding from the DNA, despite traditionally being considered a fast parameter, needs to be slow to broaden the space of oscillatory solutions. The addition of multiple, independent DNA binding sites further expands the oscillatory parameter space for the repressor-titration oscillator and lengthens the period of both oscillators. This effect is a combination of increased effective delay of the unbinding kinetics due to multiple binding sites and increased promoter ultrasensitivity that is specific for repression. We then use stochastic simulation to show that multiple binding sites increase the coherence of oscillations by mitigating the binary noise. Slow values of DNA unbinding rate are also effective in alleviating molecular noise due to the increased distance from the bifurcation point. Our work demonstrates how the number of DNA binding sites and slow unbinding kinetics, which are often omitted in biophysical models of gene circuits, can have a significant impact on the temporal and stochastic dynamics of genetic oscillators. This model is hosted on BioModels Database and identified by: BIOMD0000000586. To cite BioModels Database, please use: BioModels Database: An enhanced, curated and annotated resource for published quantitative kinetic models. To the extent possible under law, all copyright and related or neighbouring rights to this encoded model have been dedicated to the public domain worldwide. Please refer to CC0 Public Domain Dedication for more information.

Project description:Karapetyan2016 - Genetic oscillatory network - Repressor Titration Circuit (RTC) This model is described in the article: Role of DNA binding sites and slow unbinding kinetics in titration-based oscillators. Karapetyan S, Buchler NE. Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys 2015 Dec; 92(6-1): 062712 Abstract: Genetic oscillators, such as circadian clocks, are constantly perturbed by molecular noise arising from the small number of molecules involved in gene regulation. One of the strongest sources of stochasticity is the binary noise that arises from the binding of a regulatory protein to a promoter in the chromosomal DNA. In this study, we focus on two minimal oscillators based on activator titration and repressor titration to understand the key parameters that are important for oscillations and for overcoming binary noise. We show that the rate of unbinding from the DNA, despite traditionally being considered a fast parameter, needs to be slow to broaden the space of oscillatory solutions. The addition of multiple, independent DNA binding sites further expands the oscillatory parameter space for the repressor-titration oscillator and lengthens the period of both oscillators. This effect is a combination of increased effective delay of the unbinding kinetics due to multiple binding sites and increased promoter ultrasensitivity that is specific for repression. We then use stochastic simulation to show that multiple binding sites increase the coherence of oscillations by mitigating the binary noise. Slow values of DNA unbinding rate are also effective in alleviating molecular noise due to the increased distance from the bifurcation point. Our work demonstrates how the number of DNA binding sites and slow unbinding kinetics, which are often omitted in biophysical models of gene circuits, can have a significant impact on the temporal and stochastic dynamics of genetic oscillators. This model is hosted on BioModels Database and identified by: BIOMD0000000587. To cite BioModels Database, please use: BioModels Database: An enhanced, curated and annotated resource for published quantitative kinetic models. To the extent possible under law, all copyright and related or neighbouring rights to this encoded model have been dedicated to the public domain worldwide. Please refer to CC0 Public Domain Dedication for more information.

Project description:CTCF (CCCTC-binding factor) is a highly conserved 11-zinc finger DNA binding protein with tens of thousands of binding sites genome-wide. CTCF acts as a multifunctional regulator of transcription, having been previously associated with activator, repressor, and insulator activity. These diverse regulatory functions are crucial for preimplantation development and are implicated in the regulation of numerous lineage-specific genes. Despite playing a critical role in developmental gene regulation, the mechanisms that underlie developmental changes in CTCF recruitment and function are poorly understood. Our previous work suggested that differences in CTCFM-bM-^@M-^Ys binding site sequence may affect the regulation of CTCF recruitment, as well as CTCFM-bM-^@M-^Ys regulatory function. To investigate these two possibilities directly during a developmental process, changes in genome-wide CTCF binding and gene expression were characterized during in vitro differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells. CTCF binding sites were initially separated into three classes (named LowOc, MedOc, and HighOc) based on similarity to the consensus motif. The LowOc class, with lower-similarity to the consensus motif, is more likely to show changes in binding during differentiation. These more dynamically bound sites are enriched for motifs that confer a lower in vitro affinity for CTCF, suggesting a mechanism where sites with low-binding affinity are more amenable to developmental control. Additionally, by comparing changes in CTCF binding with changes in gene expression during differentiation, we show that LowOc and HighOc sites are associated with distinct regulatory functions. In sum, these results suggest that the regulatory control of CTCFM-bM-^@M-^Ys binding and function is dependent in part upon specific motifs within its DNA binding site. Mouse E14 ES cells were differentiated in vitro for 4.5 days using retinoic acid. RNA-Seq was performed from cells collected before and after differentiation.

Dataset Information

Evolved Repression Overcomes Enhancer Robustness

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure