Repression Precedes Independent Evolutionary Gains of a Highly Specific Gene Expression Pattern

Overview

Journal Cell Rep

Publisher Cell Press

Specialties Biology
Cell Biology
Molecular Biology

Date 2021 Oct 27

PMID 34706247

Citations 3

Authors

Jian Pu

Zinan Wang

Haosu Cong

Jacqueline S R Chin

Jessa Justen

Cedric Finet

Joanne Y Yew

Henry Chung

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Highly specific expression patterns can be caused by the overlapping activities of activator and repressor sequences in enhancers. However, few studies illuminate how these sequences evolve in the origin of new enhancers. Here, we show that expression of the bond gene in the semicircular wall epithelium (swe) of the Drosophila melanogaster male ejaculatory bulb (EB) is controlled by an enhancer consisting of an activator region that requires Abdominal-B driving expression in the entire EB and a repressor region that restricts this expression to the EB swe. Although this expression pattern is independently gained in the distantly related Scaptodrosophila lebanonensis and does not require Abdominal-B, we show that functionally similar repressor sequences are present in Scaptodrosophila and also in species that do not express bond in the EB. We suggest that during enhancer evolution, repressor sequences can precede the evolution of activator sequences and may lead to similar but independently evolved expression patterns.

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