title: Ancient cis-regulatory constraints and the evolution of genome architecture.
abstract: The order of genes along metazoan chromosomes has generally been thought to be largely random, with few implications for organismal function. However, two recent studies, reporting hundreds of pairs of genes that have remained linked in diverse metazoan species over hundreds of millions of years of evolution, suggest widespread functional implications for gene order. These associations appear to largely reflect cis-regulatory constraints, with either (i) multiple genes sharing transcriptional regulatory elements, or (ii) regulatory elements for a developmental gene being found within a neighboring 'bystander' gene (known as a genomic regulatory block). We discuss implications, questions raised, and new research directions arising from these studies, as well as evidence for similar phenomena in other eukaryotic groups.
authors.affiliation: The Donnelly Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. mirimia@gmail.com
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Irimia
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Maeso
authors.forename: Scott W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.forename: Hunter B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Fraser
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002875:Chromosomes / Q000235:genetics*; D017124:Conserved Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D020440:Gene Duplication; D016678:Genome; D023281:Genomics; D005810:Multigene Family; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid
keywords: cis-regulatory element; genome evolution; synteny