Altered Chromatin State Drives Hypersocial Behaviors in Canids
Polymorphic transposable elements found in regulatory sequences can impact the associated transactional modules. We investigated such molecular alterations for these elements in the dog genome that evolved from directional selection during domestication. We find that the polymorphic element in canine GTF2I intron 17 is associated with altered looping, and hence distinct cis-regulatory landscapes. We report supporting evidence of an E2F1-DNA binding peak concordant with the altered loop and higher expression of GTF2I exon 18. Additionally, we find altered looping with the canine LIMK1 gene and an increase in LAT2 expression within the loop. At a more global level, we discover differences in pathways regulating the extra-cellular matrix between samples of differential TE number. Our study emphasizes the role of chromatin architecture in social evolution. Overall design: Chromatin immunoprecipitation DNA-sequencing (ChIP-seq) for H3K27ac and E2F1 in dog brainstem tissue of old males (12-16 years).