The three-dimensional genome drives the evolution of asymmetric gene duplicates via enhancer capture-divergence

Sci Adv. 2024 Dec 20;10(51):eadn6625. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adn6625. Epub 2024 Dec 18.

Abstract

Previous evolutionary models of duplicate gene evolution have overlooked the pivotal role of genome architecture. Here, we show that proximity-based regulatory recruitment by distally duplicated genes is an efficient mechanism for modulating tissue-specific production of preexisting proteins. By leveraging genomic asymmetries, we performed a coexpression analysis on Drosophila melanogaster tissue data to show the generality of enhancer capture-divergence (ECD) as a significant evolutionary driver of asymmetric, distally duplicated genes. We use the recently evolved gene HP6/Umbrea as an example of the ECD process. By assaying genome-wide chromosomal conformations in multiple Drosophila species, we show that HP6/Umbrea was inserted near a preexisting, long-distance three-dimensional genomic interaction. We then use this data to identify a newly found enhancer (FLEE1), buried within the coding region of the highly conserved, essential gene MFS18, that likely neofunctionalized HP6/Umbrea. Last, we demonstrate ancestral transcriptional coregulation of HP6/Umbrea's future insertion site, illustrating how enhancer capture provides a highly evolvable, one-step solution to Ohno's dilemma.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Drosophila Proteins / genetics
  • Drosophila Proteins / metabolism
  • Drosophila melanogaster* / genetics
  • Enhancer Elements, Genetic*
  • Evolution, Molecular*
  • Gene Duplication
  • Genes, Duplicate
  • Genome, Insect

Substances

  • Drosophila Proteins