title: Transphyletic conservation of developmental regulatory state in animal evolution.
abstract: Specific regulatory states, i.e., sets of expressed transcription factors, define the gene expression capabilities of cells in animal development. Here we explore the functional significance of an unprecedented example of regulatory state conservation from the cnidarian Nematostella to Drosophila, sea urchin, fish, and mammals. Our probe is a deeply conserved cis-regulatory DNA module of the SRY-box B2 (soxB2), recognizable at the sequence level across many phyla. Transphyletic cis-regulatory DNA transfer experiments reveal that the plesiomorphic control function of this module may have been to respond to a regulatory state associated with neuronal differentiation. By introducing expression constructs driven by this module from any phyletic source into the genomes of diverse developing animals, we discover that the regulatory state to which it responds is used at different levels of the neurogenic developmental process, including patterning and development of the vertebrate forebrain and neurogenesis in the Drosophila optic lobe and brain. The regulatory state recognized by the conserved DNA sequence may have been redeployed to different levels of the developmental regulatory program during evolution of complex central nervous systems.
authors.affiliation: Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas - Universidad Pablo de Olavide, E-41013 Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: José Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Royo
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Maeso
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Irimia
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Isabelle S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Peter
authors.forename: Carla S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Lopes
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: D'Aniello
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Casares
authors.forename: Eric H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Garcia-Fernández
authors.forename: José Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Gómez-Skarmeta
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001921:Brain / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D017124:Conserved Sequence / Q000235:genetics*; D021901:DNA, Intergenic / Q000235:genetics; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D007814:Larva / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D055749:SOXB2 Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics; D012617:Sea Urchins / Q000235:genetics; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D021901:DNA, Intergenic; D055749:SOXB2 Transcription Factors