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BRAIN EVOLUTION

Evolutionary enhancer expansion

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 23, pages 2–3 (2022)Cite this article

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The vertebrate CNS is composed of a complex repertoire of cell types, each defined by a distinct gene expression profile. As the vertebrate CNS has evolved, new cell types have emerged despite a relatively limited increase in total gene numbers; this suggests that increased cell-type diversity resulted from elaboration of the systems that control existing genes, to enable unique combinations to be expressed. However, how this hypothesized expansion of regulatory complexity has manifested at the genomic level is unknown. Closser et al. have dissected the gene regulatory architecture associated with neuronal genes and found that increased cell-type diversity coincides with evolutionary expansion of noncoding regions associated with genes expressed in the vertebrate CNS.

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    Jake Rogers

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  1. Jake Rogers
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Correspondence to Jake Rogers.

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Rogers, J. Evolutionary enhancer expansion. Nat Rev Neurosci 23, 2–3 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-021-00546-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-021-00546-5

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