Phylum-Level Conservation of Regulatory Information in Nematodes despite Extensive Non-coding Sequence Divergence

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To explore the phylogenetic limits of conservation of cis-regulatory elements, we used transgenesis to test the functions of enhancers of four genes from several species spanning the phylum Nematoda. While we found a striking degree of functional conservation among the examined cis elements, their DNA sequences lacked apparent conservation with the C. elegans orthologs. In fact, sequence similarity between C. elegans and the distantly related nematodes was no greater than would be expected by chance. Short motifs, similar to known regulatory sequences in C. elegans, can be detected in most of the cis elements. When tested, some of these sites appear to mediate regulatory function. However, they seem to have originated through motif turnover, rather than to have been preserved from a common ancestor. Our results suggest that gene regulatory networks are broadly conserved in the phylum Nematoda, but this conservation persists despite substantial reorganization of regulatory elements and could not be detected using naïve comparisons of sequence similarity.

Vyšlo v časopise: Phylum-Level Conservation of Regulatory Information in Nematodes despite Extensive Non-coding Sequence Divergence. PLoS Genet 11(5): e32767. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1005268
Kategorie: Research Article
prolekare.web.journal.doi_sk: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1005268

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