Repression and 3D-restructuring resolves regulatory conflicts in evolutionarily rearranged genomes

ABSTRACT: Regulatory landscapes drive complex developmental gene expression but it remains unclear how their integrity is maintained when incorporating novel genes and functions during evolution. Here, we investigated how a placental mammal-specific gene, Zfp42, emerged in an ancient vertebrate topologically-associated domain (TAD) without adopting or disrupting the conserved expression of its gene, Fat1. In ESCs, physical TAD-partitioning separates Zfp42 and Fat1 with distinct local enhancers that drive their independent expression. This separation is driven by chromatin activity and not CTCF/cohesin. In contrast, in embryonic limbs, inactive Zfp42 shares Fat1’s intact TAD without responding to active Fat1 enhancers. However, neither Fat1 enhancer-incompatibility nor nuclear envelope-attachment account for Zfp42’s unresponsiveness. Rather, Zfp42’s promoter is rendered inert to enhancers by context-dependent DNA methylation. Thus, diverse mechanisms enabled the integration of independent Zfp42 regulation in the Fat1 locus. Critically, such regulatory complexity appears common in evolution as, genome-wide, most TADs contain multiple independently-expressed genes.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus Gallus gallus Monodelphis domestica

PROVIDER: GSE185775 | GEO | 2022/09/29

REPOSITORIES: GEO