Abstract

During the phylotypic period, embryos from different genera show similar gene expression patterns, implying common regulatory mechanisms. Here we set out to identify enhancers involved in the initial events of cardiogenesis, which occurs during the phylotypic period. We isolate early cardiac progenitor cells from zebrafish embryos and characterize 3838 open chromatin regions specific to this cell population. Of these regions, 162 overlap with conserved non-coding elements (CNEs) that also map to open chromatin regions in human. Most of the zebrafish conserved open chromatin elements tested drive gene expression in the developing heart. Despite modest sequence identity, human orthologous open chromatin regions recapitulate the spatial temporal expression patterns of the zebrafish sequence, potentially providing a basis for phylotypic gene expression patterns. Genome-wide, we discover 5598 zebrafish-human conserved open chromatin regions, suggesting that a diverse repertoire of ancient enhancers is established prior to organogenesis and the phylotypic period.

Details

Title
Heart enhancers with deeply conserved regulatory activity are established early in zebrafish development
Author
Yuan, Xuefei 1 ; Song, Mengyi 1 ; Devine, Patrick 2 ; Bruneau, Benoit G 3 ; Scott, Ian C 4 ; Wilson, Michael D 5   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

1  Program in Genetics and Genome Biology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada; Program in Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada 
2  Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, CA, USA; Department of Pathology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA 
3  Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, CA, USA; Department of Pediatrics and Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA 
4  Program in Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada 
5  Program in Genetics and Genome Biology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada 
Pages
1-14
Publication year
2018
Publication date
Nov 2018
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20411723
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07451-z
ProQuest document ID
2138054976
Copyright
© 2018. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.