Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 8, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14229
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Funding
- Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences [XDB13000000]
- Lundbeckfonden [R190-2014-2827, R52-5062]
- JSPS KAKENHI Grant [JP15H04374]
- Naito Foundation
- Next Generation World-Leading Researchers from the Cabinet Office, Government of Japan [LS007]
- JSPS KAKENHI [JP14J07050, JP15J06859, JP15J06385]
- Platform Project for Supporting in Drug Discovery and Life Science Research Platform for Dynamic Approaches to Living System from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)
- Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED)
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [15J06859, 15H04374, 15K14358, 14J07050] Funding Source: KAKEN
- Lundbeck Foundation [R190-2014-2827] Funding Source: researchfish
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Unlike microevolutionary processes, little is known about the genetic basis of macroevolutionary processes. One of these magnificent examples is the transition from non-avian dinosaurs to birds that has created numerous evolutionary innovations such as self-powered flight and its associated wings with flight feathers. By analysing 48 bird genomes, we identified millions of avian-specific highly conserved elements (ASHCEs) that predominantly (> 99%) reside in non-coding regions. Many ASHCEs show differential histone modifications that may participate in regulation of limb development. Comparative embryonic gene expression analyses across tetrapod species suggest ASHCE-associated genes have unique roles in developing avian limbs. In particular, we demonstrate how the ASHCE driven avian-specific expression of gene Sim1 driven by ASHCE may be associated with the evolution and development of flight feathers. Together, these findings demonstrate regulatory roles of ASHCEs in the creation of avian-specific traits, and further highlight the importance of cis-regulatory rewiring during macroevolutionary changes.
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