Evolutionary co-option of a Drosophila enhancer of the yellow gene through shared chromatin accessibility input
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ABSTRACT: The diversity of forms in multicellular organisms originates largely from the spatial redeployment of genes expressed during development. Several scenarios explain the emergence of cis-regulatory elements that govern novel aspects of a gene expression pattern. One scenario, enhancer co-option, holds that a DNA sequence producing an ancestral regulatory activity also becomes the template for a new regulatory activity and shares regulatory information. While enhancer co-option might fuel morphological diversification, it has rarely been documented and the regulatory mechanisms underlying this evolutionary process are elusive. Here we show how a novel enhancer of the Drosophila pigmentation gene yellow, the spot enhancer, has co-opted the ancestral wing blade enhancer. We mapped the sequences driving each regulatory activity, ancestral and derived, and identified a shared core element necessary for DNA accessibility in this regulatory region. Our results suggest a model where a new enhancer emerges by co-opting accessibility information intrinsic to an older enhancer, and gaining transcription factor binding sites that diversify its spatial activity.
ORGANISM(S): Drosophila melanogaster
PROVIDER: GSE142176 | GEO | 2020/07/28
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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