title: Primate-specific evolution of an LDLR enhancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sequence changes in regulatory regions have often been invoked to explain phenotypic divergence among species, but molecular examples of this have been difficult to obtain.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this study we identified an anthropoid primate-specific sequence element that contributed to the regulatory evolution of the low-density lipoprotein receptor. Using a combination of close and distant species genomic sequence comparisons coupled with in vivo and in vitro studies, we found that a functional cholesterol-sensing sequence motif arose and was fixed within a pre-existing enhancer in the common ancestor of anthropoid primates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study demonstrates one molecular mechanism by which ancestral mammalian regulatory elements can evolve to perform new functions in the primate lineage leading to human.
authors.affiliation: Genomics Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. QFWang@lbl.gov
authors.forename: Qian-fei
authors.initials: QF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shyam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Prabhakar
authors.forename: Qianben
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Alan M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Moses
authors.forename: Sumita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chanan
authors.forename: Myles
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Michael B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Eisen
authors.forename: Jan-Fang
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Edward M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Rubin
authors.forename: Dario
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Boffelli
mesh_terms: D020816:Amino Acid Motifs / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D047369:Chromatin Immunoprecipitation; D019295:Computational Biology; D017124:Conserved Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D017931:DNA Primers; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D011323:Primates / Q000235:genetics*; D011973:Receptors, LDL / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D011973:Receptors, LDL