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Vertebrate paralogous conserved noncoding sequences may be related to gene expressions in brain.

ABSTRACT: Vertebrate genomes include gene regulatory elements in protein-noncoding regions. A part of gene regulatory elements are expected to be conserved according to their functional importance, so that evolutionarily conserved noncoding sequences (CNSs) might be good candidates for those elements. In addition, paralogous CNSs, which are highly conserved among both orthologous loci and paralogous loci, have the possibility of controlling overlapping expression patterns of their adjacent paralogous protein-coding genes. The two-round whole-genome duplications (2R WGDs), which most probably occurred in the vertebrate common ancestors, generated large numbers of paralogous protein-coding genes and their regulatory elements. These events could contribute to the emergence of vertebrate features. However, the evolutionary history and influences of the 2R WGDs are still unclear, especially in noncoding regions. To address this issue, we identified paralogous CNSs. Region-focused Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) search of each synteny block revealed 7,924 orthologous CNSs and 309 paralogous CNSs conserved among eight high-quality vertebrate genomes. Paralogous CNSs we found contained 115 previously reported ones and newly detected 194 ones. Through comparisons with VISTA Enhancer Browser and available ChIP-seq data, one-third (103) of paralogous CNSs detected in this study showed gene regulatory activity in the brain at several developmental stages. Their genomic locations are highly enriched near the transcription factor-coding regions, which are expressed in brain and neural systems. These results suggest that paralogous CNSs are conserved mainly because of maintaining gene expression in the vertebrate brain.

SUBMITTER: Matsunami M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3595034 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Vertebrate paralogous conserved noncoding sequences may be related to gene expressions in brain.

Matsunami Masatoshi M Saitou Naruya N

Genome biology and evolution 20130101 1

Vertebrate genomes include gene regulatory elements in protein-noncoding regions. A part of gene regulatory elements are expected to be conserved according to their functional importance, so that evolutionarily conserved noncoding sequences (CNSs) might be good candidates for those elements. In addition, paralogous CNSs, which are highly conserved among both orthologous loci and paralogous loci, have the possibility of controlling overlapping expression patterns of their adjacent paralogous prot ...[more]

PMID: 23267051

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Project description:In addition to protein coding sequence, the human genome contains a significant amount of regulatory DNA, the identification of which is proving somewhat recalcitrant to both in silico and functional methods. An approach that has been used with some success is comparative sequence analysis, whereby equivalent genomic regions from different organisms are compared in order to identify both similarities and differences. In general, similarities in sequence between highly divergent organisms imply functional constraint. We have used a whole-genome comparison between humans and the pufferfish, Fugu rubripes, to identify nearly 1,400 highly conserved non-coding sequences. Given the evolutionary divergence between these species, it is likely that these sequences are found in, and furthermore are essential to, all vertebrates. Most, and possibly all, of these sequences are located in and around genes that act as developmental regulators. Some of these sequences are over 90% identical across more than 500 bases, being more highly conserved than coding sequence between these two species. Despite this, we cannot find any similar sequences in invertebrate genomes. In order to begin to functionally test this set of sequences, we have used a rapid in vivo assay system using zebrafish embryos that allows tissue-specific enhancer activity to be identified. Functional data is presented for highly conserved non-coding sequences associated with four unrelated developmental regulators (SOX21, PAX6, HLXB9, and SHH), in order to demonstrate the suitability of this screen to a wide range of genes and expression patterns. Of 25 sequence elements tested around these four genes, 23 show significant enhancer activity in one or more tissues. We have identified a set of non-coding sequences that are highly conserved throughout vertebrates. They are found in clusters across the human genome, principally around genes that are implicated in the regulation of development, including many transcription factors. These highly conserved non-coding sequences are likely to form part of the genomic circuitry that uniquely defines vertebrate development.

Project description:Here we focus on identifying conserved elements that are required for Chaserr function, a lncRNA that we recently characterized as being essential for mouse viability (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13075-8). Chaserr is highly conserved in different species, and is located in close proximity (<2kb) to the transcription start site of CHD2. It acts in concert with the CHD2 protein to maintain proper Chd2 expression levels. Using the LncLOOM framework we identified AUGG enriched conserved elements which are located in the last exon of mouse Chaserr. In order to identify proteins that potentially bind to these conserved regions, we used in vitro transcription to generate the following biotinylated RNAs; along with their antisense controls: 1) The WT sequence, containing the first 322 nt of the last exon of Chaserr (bases 764–1086 of the NR_037601 isoform). An antisense control fragment was also prepared, labelled as AWT 2) The mutant conserved (MC) sequence, that contained AUGG→UACC mutations in four conserved motifs that were found using LncLOOM. An antisense control fragment was also prepared, labelled as AMC 3) The muatant all (MA) sequence in which all seven of the AUGG sites in the last exon were mutated to UACC. An antisense control fragment was also prepared, labelled as AMA 4) We also included a No Probe Control, which did not contain an RNA fragment. The fragments were incubated with N2a cell lysates followed by RNA-pulldown and Mass Spec analysis. The experiment was performed in triplicate. A total of 938 proteins were found to associate with the WT sequence: 74 of these were enriched ≥3-fold compared to the antisense sequence.We identified 9 proteins that had ≥2-fold higher recovery when using the WT sequence compared to both mutants. Included in these proteins was DHX36, which showed the highest enrichment compared to the mutated sequences. We validated the association of DHX36 with Chaserr through RNA immunoprecipitation experiments.

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Vertebrate paralogous conserved noncoding sequences may be related to gene expressions in brain.

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Vertebrate paralogous conserved noncoding sequences may be related to gene expressions in brain.

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