Accumulation of CTCF-binding sites drives expression divergence between tandemly duplicated genes in humans

BMC Genomics

Proceedings

关键词: epigenetics;    DNA methylation;    genome architecture;    ChIP-seq;    RNA-seq;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2164-15-S1-S8

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundDuring eukaryotic genome evolution, tandem gene duplication is the most frequent event giving rise to clustered gene families. However, how expression divergence between tandemly duplicated genes has emerged and maintained remain unclear. In particular, it is unknown if epigenetic regulators have been involved in the process.ResultsWe demonstrate that CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF), the master epigenetic regulator and the only known insulator protein in humans, has played a predominant role in generating divergence in both expression profiles and expression levels between adjacent paralogs in the human genome. This phenomenon was not observed for non-paralogous adjacent genes. After tandem duplication events, CTCF-binding sites gradually accumulate between paralogs. This trend was more prominent for genes involved in particular functions.ConclusionsThe accumulation of CTCF-binding sites drives expression divergence of tandemly duplicated genes. This process is likely targeted by natural selection. Our study reveals the importance of CTCF to the evolution of animal diversity and complexity.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Liao and Chang; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014