Transphyletic conservation of developmental regulatory state in animal evolution
Open accessAbstract
Specific regulatory states, i.e., sets of expressed transcription factors, define the gene expression capabilities of cells in animal development. Here we explore the functional significance of an unprecedented example of regulatory state conservation from the cnidarian Nematostella to Drosophila , sea urchin, fish, and mammals. Our probe is a deeply conserved cis -regulatory DNA module of the SRY-box B2 ( soxB2 ), recognizable at the sequence level across many phyla. Transphyletic cis -regulatory DNA transfer experiments reveal that the plesiomorphic control function of this module may have been to respond to a regulatory state associated with neuronal differentiation. By introducing expression constructs driven by this module from any phyletic source into the genomes of diverse developing animals, we discover that the regulatory state to which it responds is used at different levels of the neurogenic developmental process, including patterning and development of the vertebrate forebrain and neurogenesis in the Drosophila optic lobe and brain. The regulatory state recognized by the conserved DNA sequence may have been redeployed to different levels of the developmental regulatory program during evolution of complex central nervous systems.
Verified 2026-10-06 · 4 references not checked yet
AI snapshot
Written from the paper’s full text.
TL;DR
A deeply conserved cis-regulatory module near soxB2/sox21, recognizable from cnidarians to vertebrates, responds to a conserved neuronal regulatory state. Transphyletic transgenic assays show this state has been redeployed at different levels of nervous system development, from neuronal differentiation to forebrain patterning and Drosophila neuroblast proliferation.
Key findings
- A conserved noncoding region (CNR) at the soxB2/sox21 locus was identified across human, zebrafish, amphioxus, sea urchin, hemichordate, and the cnidarian Nematostella; seven additional CNRs, 76–217 bp long, were conserved in chordate and nonchordate deuterostomes, with one also recognizable in Nematostella.
- Transgenic reporter assays showed soxB2 CNRs from diverse phyla drive expression in developing zebrafish CNS regions (forebrain, eye, midbrain, hindbrain, spinal cord); at 24 h, human and sea urchin constructs also expressed in midbrain, the sea urchin construct had an additional diencephalon domain, and the Nematostella construct did not express in midbrain.
- The same CNRs drove expression in sea urchin ciliary band neurons and in Drosophila larval CNS neuroblasts and optic lobes, indicating that key components of the regulatory state are present across large phylogenetic distances.
- Morpholino knockdown of zebrafish sox21a and sox21b (15 ng individual or 7.5 ng each together) did not affect GFP driven by human or sea urchin soxB2 CNR constructs, ruling out positive autoregulation by endogenous Sox21.
Methods
- Computational scan for deeply conserved CNRs across eumetazoan genomes, using chordate CNRs as probes; the soxB2 CNR and seven additional CNRs were identified and functionally tested.
- Transgenic reporter constructs were introduced into zebrafish (Tol2 system), sea urchin eggs (cytoplasmic injection), and Drosophila; expression was analyzed by whole-mount in situ hybridization, double in situ hybridization, and confocal immunofluorescence.
- Morpholino knockdown of zebrafish sox21a and sox21b was used to test whether the CNRs are positively autoregulated by Sox21.
Limitations
- Stated: 48-h zebrafish images do not afford cellular resolution, so expression comparisons pertain only to general regions; expression patterns were similar but not identical, with the sea urchin CNR apparently lacking a diencephalon repressor site and the Nematostella CNR apparently lacking sites for some regional brain activators.
- Stated: the conserved SoxB2 CNRs cannot be detected in the genomes of a mollusk, an annelid, a crustacean, or Drosophila, so cross-phyletic function in Drosophila was tested despite no gross sequence similarity.
- Evident: conclusions about ancestral regulatory state rely on heterologous transgenic reporter assays; no direct CNR loss-of-function is reported in most contexts, and sea urchin transgenesis is mosaic.
Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
0 of 34 cited sources checked · 0 supported · 0 flagged
- Findingown data§ Transphyletic conservation of developmental regulatory state in animal evolution · p. 1
The regulatory state to which the soxB2 CNR responds is used at different levels of the neurogenic developmental process, including patterning and development of the vertebrate forebrain and neurogenesis in the Drosophila optic lobe and brain.
“By introducing expression constructs driven by this module from any phyletic source into the genomes of diverse developing animals, we discover that the regulatory state to which it responds is used at different levels of the neurogenic developmental process, including patterning and development of the vertebrate forebrain and neurogenesis in the Drosophila optic lobe and brain.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Findingown data§ Results · p. 4
In the larval CNS of Drosophila, SpSoxB2-CNR and HsSOX21-CNR both drive expression in neuroblasts of the central brain and ventral nerve cord as well as in the optic lobes.
“In the larval CNS, SpSoxB2 -CNR and HsSOX21 -CNR both drive expression in neuroblasts of the central brain and ventral nerve cord as well as in the optic lobes”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Findingown data§ Results · p. 1
One of these CNRs also can be recognized in the Nematostella genome.
“One of these CNRs also can be recognized in the Nematostella genome (Fig. S2 B ; for computational procedures and criterion of conservation see SI Materials and Methods ).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Findingown data§ Results · p. 4
In transgenic Drosophila embryos, the human HsSOX21-CNR construct is expressed in a small subset of neuroblasts of the ventral nerve cord.
“and, in addition, the human construct is expressed in a small subset of neuroblasts of the ventral nerve cord”
Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim - Findingown data§ Discussion · p. 5
With a couple of exceptions, in each transphyletic context the CNRs from diverse sources generate a very similar regulatory output.
“With a couple of exceptions, in each transphyletic context the CNRs from diverse sources generate a very similar regulatory output.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
- Findingown data§ Results · p. 2
These domains are approximately the same domains in which the endogenous zebrafish sox21b gene is expressed.
“These domains are approximately the same domains in which the endogenous zebra fi sh sox21b gene is expressed (Fig. S4 A )”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Findingown data§ Results · p. 3
At this stage, the only region undergoing neurogenesis, as marked by neurogenin expression, is immediately adjacent to the midbrain/hindbrain boundary.
“At this stage the only region undergoing neurogenesis, as marked by neurogenin expression, is immediately adjacent to this boundary (Fig. 3 D ).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Findingnone given§ Discussion · p. 5
The Nematostella CNR evidently lacks sites for some regional brain activators.
“and the Nematostella CNR evidently also lacks sites for some regional brain activators.”
Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim - Findingown data§ Results · p. 2
The sea urchin construct displays a strong additional domain of expression in the diencephalon.
“On the other hand, the sea urchin construct displays a strong additional domain of expression in the diencephalon (Fig. 2 E and J ).”
Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim - Findingown data§ Results · p. 2
At 48 h of development, the amphioxus and sea urchin soxB2 CNRs drive GFP expression in the same gross domains of the developing zebrafish CNS as do the vertebrate CNRs.
“At 48 h of development, the amphioxus and sea urchin soxB2 CNRs are seen to drive GFP expression in the same gross domains of the developing zebra fi sh CNS as do the vertebrate CNRs (Fig. 2 A -C ; as shown in Fig. S7 A -C , the empty vectors display no activity in the brain).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Findingown data§ Results · p. 3
The most general and uniform expression domain generated by all of the CNRs as well as the endogenous sox21b control system is throughout the future forebrain.
“As in the later stages, the most general and uniform expression domain generated by all of the CNRs as well the endogenous sox21b control system is throughout the future forebrain (Fig. 3 E -H and Fig. S5).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Findingown data§ Results · p. 1
Seven additional CNRs, 76-217 bp in length, are conserved at the sequence level in both chordate and nonchordate deuterostomes.
“We identi fi ed seven additional CNRs, 76 -217 bp in length, conserved at the sequence level in both chordate and nonchordate deuterostomes (Fig. S2 A -G and Table S1)”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Findingown data§ Results · p. 4
Some additional expression of the CNR constructs is seen in a few neurons (axon-bearing cells) of the lobulla in Drosophila, as in zebrafish.
“As in zebra fi sh, some additional expression is seen in a few neurons (i.e., axon-bearing cells) of the lobulla.”
Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim - Findingown data§ Results · p. 3
Injection of 15 ng of individual MOs or 7.5 ng of each MO injected together had no effect on the GFP levels in transgenic embryos expressing human or sea urchin soxB2 CNR constructs.
“Injection of 15 ng of individual MOs or 7.5 ng of each MO injected together had no effect on the GFP levels in transgenic embryos expressing human or sea urchin soxB2 CNR constructs.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Findingcitation§ Results · p. 4
No expression of the CNR constructs is detected in differentiated neurons marked by dachshund (dac) expression in Drosophila.
“No expression is detected in differentiated neurons, which are marked by dachshund ( dac ) expression ( Fig. 5 D ) (32).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked- cites [32] Meinertzhagen IA, Hanson JA (1993). The development of the optic lobe. The Development of Drosophila melanogaster, eds M. Bate and A. Martinez-Arias (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, NY), pp. 1363 -1491.
Not checked in the free run.
- Findingnone given§ Discussion · p. 5
The sea urchin CNR evidently lacks a site for a diencephalon repressor that the other sequences retain.
“It also is true that the sea urchin CNR evidently lacks a site for a diencephalon repressor that the other sequences retain”
Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim - Findingown data§ Results · p. 4
In Drosophila, this regulatory state is used in neuroblasts and proliferating precursors of neurons, rather than in differentiated mature neurons or ganglion mother cells.
“However, the cellular resolution of these studies also shows that in Drosophila this regulatory state is used in neuroblasts and proliferating precursors of neurons, rather than in differentiated mature neurons or ganglion mother cells.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Findingnone given§ Discussion · p. 5
The developmental functions of the soxB2 CNRs in the different phyla tested are not the same.
“On the other hand, when looked at closely, their developmental functions in the different phyla tested are not the same.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Findingown data§ Results · p. 1
Positive enhancer activity was detected for a CNR associated with the Id genes across the deuterostomes.
“In addition to the SoxB2 CNR that is the subject of this paper, wedetected positive enhancer activity for a CNR associated with the inhibitor of DNA binding, dominant negative helix-loop-helix (Id) genes across the deuterostomes.”
Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim - Findingown data§ Results · p. 4
In transgenic Drosophila embryos, SpSoxB2-CNR and HsSOX21-CNR both drive GFP in cephalic neuroblasts.
“In transgenic Drosophila embryos SpSoxB2 -CNR and HsSOX21 -CNR both drive GFP in cephalic neuroblasts”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Findingown data§ Discussion · p. 5
In both Drosophila and vertebrates, the CNRs are active in brain patterning and regionalization.
“However, in addition to the ancestral role, in both Drosophila and vertebrates the CNRs are active in brain patterning and regionalization.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Findingown data§ Discussion · p. 5
In the Drosophila brain and optic lobes, the soxB2 CNRs are active specifically in proliferating precursors and neuroblasts.
“but it is interesting that in the Drosophila brain and optic lobes the soxB2 CNRs are active speci fi cally in proliferating precursors and neuroblasts (Fig. 3).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Premisecitation§ Transphyletic conservation of developmental regulatory state in animal evolution · p. 1
Very highly conserved sequences up to several hundred bp long are shown by transgenic reporter assays to possess conserved cis-regulatory function.
“Most obvious are examples revealed by genomic sequence comparisons, in which very highly conserved sequences up to several hundred bp long are shown by transgenic reporter assays to possess conserved cis -regulatory function (e.g., refs. 2 -7).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked- cites refs. 2 -7
Not checked in the free run.
- Premisecitation§ Transphyletic conservation of developmental regulatory state in animal evolution · p. 1
Highly conserved cis-regulatory sequences account for only a minor fraction of the large number of genomic cis-regulatory modules likely to exist in animal genomes.
“However, highly conserved cis -regulatory sequences account for only a minor fraction of the large number of genomic cis -regulatory modules likely to exist in animal genomes (8)”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked- cites [8] Davidson EH (2006) The Regulatory Genome. Gene Regulatory Networks in Development and Evolution (Academic/Elsevier, San Diego).
Not checked in the free run.
- Premisereasoning§ Transphyletic conservation of developmental regulatory state in animal evolution · p. 1
cis-regulatory comparisons at significant evolutionary distance often reveal conserved control functions even when sequence conservation is not detectable across the cis-regulatory module.
“cis -regulatory comparisons at signi fi cant evolutionary distance often reveal conserved control functions even when sequence conservation is not detectable across the cis -regulatory module.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Interpretationown data§ Transphyletic conservation of developmental regulatory state in animal evolution · p. 1
The plesiomorphic control function of the soxB2 CNR may have been to respond to a regulatory state associated with neuronal differentiation.
“Transphyletic cis -regulatory DNA transfer experiments reveal that the plesiomorphic control function of this module may have been to respond to a regulatory state associated with neuronal differentiation.”
- Also stated in: § Results · p. 4 · plain
“In turn, the sequences of this CNR plesiomorphically recognize a regulatory state associated with neuronal differentiation.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Also stated in: § Results · p. 4 · plain
- Interpretationown data§ Transphyletic conservation of developmental regulatory state in animal evolution · p. 1
The regulatory state recognized by the conserved soxB2 DNA sequence may have been redeployed to different levels of the developmental regulatory program during evolution of complex central nervous systems.
“The regulatory state recognized by the conserved DNA sequence may have been redeployed to different levels of the developmental regulatory program during evolution of complex central nervous systems.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Interpretationown data§ Results · p. 3
The regional expression and gaps in the expression pattern at the future diencephalon domain (except for the sea urchin construct) indicate expression that foreshadows the parts of the brain, rather than simply reflecting neurogenesis or the presence of differentiated neurons.
“Again, both the regional expression seen in these fi gures and the gaps in the expression pattern at the future diencephalon domain (except for the sea urchin construct; Fig. 3 G and Fig. S5 J ) indicate expression that foreshadows the parts of the brain, rather than simply re fl ecting neurogenesis or the presence of differentiated neurons.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Premisecitation§ Results · p. 2
Similar expression patterns were observed in transgenic zebrafish bearing constructs for the orthologous human and pufferfish CNRs.
“Similar expression patterns were observed in transgenic zebra fi sh bearing constructs for the orthologous human and puffer fi sh CNRs (25, 26).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 2 sources checked- cites [25] Woolfe A, et al. (2005) Highly conserved non-coding sequences are associated with vertebrate development. PLoS Biol 3:e7. source
Not checked in the free run.
- cites [26] Holland LZ, et al. (2008) The amphioxus genome illuminates vertebrate origins and cephalochordate biology. Genome Res 18:1100 -1111. source
Not checked in the free run.
- Study design and conductown data§ Results · p. 3
The zsox21b morpholino was shown to block translation of a zsox21b-GFP fusion mRNA.
“For zsox21a , we used a previously reported MO (29); for zsox21b , the MO was shown to block translation of a zsox21b-GFP fusion mRNA (Fig. S6).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Premisecitation§ Transphyletic conservation of developmental regulatory state in animal evolution · p. 1
The most prominent and concrete examples of phylogenetic regulatory state conservation have been found in cell types that appear across the Bilateria.
“The most prominent and concrete examples of phylogenetic regulatory state conservation have been found in cell types that appear across the Bilateria (1, 12).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 2 sources checked- cites [1] Peter IS, Davidson EH (2011) Evolution of gene regulatory networks controlling body plan development. Cell 144:970 -985. source
Not checked in the free run.
- cites [12] Davidson EH, Erwin DH (2009) An integrated view of Precambrian eumetazoan evolution. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol 74:65 -80. source
Not checked in the free run.
- Premisecitation§ Discussion · p. 5
Sox2 has been found bound at the Sox21 CNR in human stem cells.
“In fact, Sox2 has been found bound at the Sox21 CNR in human stem cells (Fig. S9 B ) (35).”
Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked- cites [35] Hawkins RD, et al. (2010) Distinct epigenomic landscapes of pluripotent and lineagecommitted human cells. Cell Stem Cell 6:479 -491. source
Not checked in the free run.
- Premisecitation§ Results · p. 2
Previous studies in transgenic mouse embryos showed that a lacZ construct driven by the orthologous human SOX21 CNR is expressed, as is the endogenous mouse gene, in many regions of the brain, spinal column, eye, and otic vesicle.
“Previous studies carried out in transgenic mouse embryos showed that a lacZ construct driven by the orthologous human SOX21 CNR is expressed, as is the endogenous mouse gene, in many regions of the brain, spinal column, eye, and otic vesicle.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Interpretationown data§ Results · p. 2
In the 24-h embryo, the regulatory states to which the CNRs respond are deployed according to future domains of the CNS.
“We see that in the 24-h embryo the regulatory states to which the CNRs respond are deployed according to future domains of the CNS.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Premisenone given§ Discussion · p. 5
Specific regulatory states are generated by specific gene regulatory network (GRN) subcircuits.
“Speci fi c regulatory states are generated by speci fi c gene regulatory network (GRN) subcircuits.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Premisecitation§ Transphyletic conservation of developmental regulatory state in animal evolution · p. 1
In functional assays inserting known cis-regulatory modules into genomes of different species, only the specific transcription factor target sites are retained, spaced in nonconserved DNA sequence, often in diverse site order and number.
“In such examples, where functional assays carried out by insertion of known cis -regulatory modules into the genomes of different species reveal conserved function, it is found that only the speci fi c transcription factor (TF) target sites are retained, spaced in nonconserved DNA sequence, often in diverse site order and number (9 -11).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 3 sources checked- cites [9] Oda-Ishii I, Bertrand V, Matsuo I, Lemaire P, Saiga H (2005) Making very similar embryos with divergent genomes: Conservation of regulatory mechanisms of Otx between the ascidians Halocynthia roretzi and Ciona intestinalis . Development 132: 1663 -1674. source
Not checked in the free run.
- cites [10] Hare EE, Peterson BK, Iyer VN, Meier R, Eisen MB (2008) Sepsid even-skipped enhancers are functionally conserved in Drosophila despite lack of sequence conservation. PLoS Genet 4:e1000106. source
Not checked in the free run.
- cites [11] Hinman VF, Nguyen A, Davidson EH (2007) Caught in the evolutionary act: Precise cis -regulatory basis of difference in the organization of gene networks of sea stars and sea urchins. Dev Biol 312:584 -595. source
Not checked in the free run.
- Interpretationown data§ Discussion · p. 5
The soxB2 CNRs are the most deeply conserved enhancers described to date.
“On the one hand, they are the most deeply conserved enhancers described to date”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Premisecitation§ Transphyletic conservation of developmental regulatory state in animal evolution · p. 1
In phylogenetically distant animals, sometimes only the regulatory state is conserved in cells that perform specifically homologous functions, but the effector genes are all different.
“In phylogenetically distant animals, however, sometimes only the regulatory state is conserved in cells that perform speci fi cally homologous functions, but the effector genes are all different.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Interpretationreasoning§ Transphyletic conservation of developmental regulatory state in animal evolution · p. 1
Given cis-regulatory modules can be used as probes for a phylogenetically conserved regulatory state.
“Thus, given cis -regulatory modules can be used as probes for a phylogenetically conserved regulatory state.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Interpretationcitation§ Results · p. 4
The expression pattern driven by the soxB2 CNRs is reminiscent of that of Drosophila sox neuro, a SoxB1 class gene.
“The expression pattern driven by these CNRs is reminiscent of that of Drosophila sox neuro (33, 34), a SoxB1 class gene.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 2 sources checked- cites [33] Crémazy F, Berta P, Girard F (2000) Sox neuro, a new Drosophila Sox gene expressed in the developing central nervous system. Mech Dev 93:215 -219. source
Not checked in the free run.
- cites [34] Buescher M, Hing FS, Chia W (2002) Formation of neuroblasts in the embryonic central nervous system of Drosophila melanogaster is controlled by SoxNeuro. Development 129:4193 -4203. source
Not checked in the free run.
- Premisecitation§ Transphyletic conservation of developmental regulatory state in animal evolution · p. 1
Certain differentiation gene batteries composed of orthologous effector genes and the regulatory state drivers that activate them are known in all bilaterian animals investigated and even in cnidarians, e.g., in muscle cells, neurons, photoreceptor cells, and neurosecretory cells.
“Certain differentiation gene batteries composed of orthologous effector genes and the regulatory state drivers that activate them are known in all bilaterian animals investigated and even in cnidarians, e.g., in muscle cells (5) neurons (13), photoreceptor cells (14 -17), and neurosecretory cells (17).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 6 sources checked- cites [5] Seipel K, Schmid V (2005) Evolution of striated muscle: Jelly fi sh and the origin of triploblasty. Dev Biol 282:14 -26. source
Not checked in the free run.
- cites [13] Hayakawa E, Fujisawa C, Fujisawa T (2004) Involvement of Hydra achaete-scute gene CnASH in the differentiation pathway of sensory neurons in the tentacles. Dev Genes Evol 214:486 -492. source
Not checked in the free run.
- cites [14] Hennig AK, Peng GH, Chen S (2008) Regulation of photoreceptor gene expression by Crx-associated transcription factor network. Brain Res 1192:114 -133. source
Not checked in the free run.
- cites [15] Ranade SS, et al. (2008) Analysis of the Otd-dependent transcriptome supports the evolutionary conservation of CRX/OTX/OTD functions in fl ies and vertebrates. Dev Biol 315:521 -534. source
Not checked in the free run.
- cites [16] Swaroop A, Kim D, Forrest D (2010) Transcriptional regulation of photoreceptor development and homeostasis in the mammalian retina. Nat Rev Neurosci 11:563 -576. source
Not checked in the free run.
- cites [17] Tessmar-Raible K, et al. (2007) Conserved sensory-neurosecretory cell types in annelid and fi sh forebrain: Insights into hypothalamus evolution. Cell 129:1389 -1400. source
Not checked in the free run.
- Interpretationreasoning§ Results · p. 1
These seven additional CNRs were present in the last common ancestor of all deuterostomes.
“thus these CNRs must have been present in the last common ancestor of all deuterostomes.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Interpretationown data§ Results · p. 3
Positive autoregulation of the CNRs by endogenous Sox21 is ruled out.
“Thus positive autoregulation of the CNRs by endogenous Sox21 is ruled out.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Interpretationreasoning§ Results · p. 2
The lack of diencephalon expression of the human CNR construct cannot be caused by the absence of neuronal tissue there.
“the lack of diencephalon expression of the human CNR construct, in accord with the endogenous gene expression pattern, cannot be caused by the absence of neuronal tissue there”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Premisenone given§ Results · p. 4
Cis-regulatory function is often preserved when essential transcription factor target sites remain present, even though no overall sequence similarity can be recognized.
“However, as noted above, cis -regulatory function often is preserved when essential TF target sites remain present, even though no overall sequence similarity can be recognized.”
Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim - Interpretationown data§ Discussion · p. 5
The level of sequence conservation of soxB2 CNRs, extending through three deuterostome phyla to an anthozoan cnidarian, is most unusual.
“and their level of sequence conservation, extending through three deuterostome phyla all of the way to an anthozoan cnidarian, is most unusual.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Interpretationcitation§ Results · p. 2
The vertebrate SOX21 CNR functions largely as a CNS cis-regulatory module.
“These results demonstrate that this vertebrate CNR functions largely as a CNS cis -regulatory module.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Premisecitation§ Results · p. 2
In vertebrates, sox21 (a soxB2 class gene) is widely expressed in the developing CNS.
“In vertebrates, sox21 (a soxB2 class gene) is widely expressed in the developing CNS.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Interpretationreasoning§ Transphyletic conservation of developmental regulatory state in animal evolution · p. 1
Pan-bilaterian cell-type functions are defined by specific, anciently evolved relations between biological role and conserved regulatory states.
“Here pan-bilaterian cell-type functions are de fi ned by speci fi c, anciently evolved relations between biological role and conserved regulatory states.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Interpretationreasoning§ Transphyletic conservation of developmental regulatory state in animal evolution · p. 1
If the function of a cis-regulatory module remains the same, the set of transcription factors to which its target sites respond are largely the same, whether or not the DNA sequence is largely conserved.
“Whether the DNA sequence of the cis -regulatory module is largely conserved or not, if the function remains the same, the implication is that the set of TFs to which its target sites respond are largely the same.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Premisecitation§ Results · p. 3
Sox21 is known to act in a repressive manner.
“This explanation is unlikely, however, because Sox21 is known to act in a repressive manner (29, 30).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 2 sources checked- cites [29] Argenton F, et al. (2004) Ectopic expression and knockdown of a zebra fi sh sox21 reveal its role as a transcriptional repressor in early development. Mech Dev 121: 131 -142. source
Not checked in the free run.
- cites [30] Sandberg M, Källström M, Muhr J (2005) Sox21 promotes the progression of vertebrate neurogenesis. Nat Neurosci 8:995 -1001. source
Not checked in the free run.
- Interpretationreasoning§ Transphyletic conservation of developmental regulatory state in animal evolution · p. 1
A similar cis-regulatory response to a given cis-regulatory construct in phylogenetically diverse systems reveals a regulatory state that has been conserved, at least partially, among these systems.
“If the sum of the TFs present in any given development context is considered as the ' regulatory state, ' a similar cis -regulatory response to a given cis -regulatory construct in phylogenetically diverse systems reveals a regulatory state that has been conserved, at least partially, among these systems.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Premisecitation§ Discussion · p. 5
In animal development, GRNs are hierarchical in structure, such that earliest-acting subcircuits at the highest levels control activation of following subcircuits, and these subcircuits, together with external inputs, in turn control the next, and so forth, until the terminal state reached.
“In animal development these GRNs are hierarchical in structure, such that the earliest-acting subcircuits at the highest levels control the activation of following subcircuits that execute the immediately succeeding jobs of a developmental process, and these subcircuits, together with external inputs, in turn control the next, and so forth, until the terminal state reached (1, 36, 37).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 3 sources checked- cites [1] Peter IS, Davidson EH (2011) Evolution of gene regulatory networks controlling body plan development. Cell 144:970 -985. source
Not checked in the free run.
- cites [36] Davidson EH, Erwin DH (2006) Gene regulatory networks and the evolution of animal body plans. Science 311:796 -800. source
Not checked in the free run.
- cites [37] Erwin DH, Davidson EH (2009) The evolution of hierarchical gene regulatory networks. Nat Rev Genet 10:141 -148. source
Not checked in the free run.
- Interpretationreasoning§ Results · p. 2
The amphioxus and sea urchin soxB2 CNRs possess the capacity to recapitulate the overall phase of teleost sox21b expression.
“so these CNRs evidently all possess the capacity to recapitulate this overall phase of teleost sox21b expression.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim - Premisenone given§ Structural Implications of Evolutionary Regulatory State Redeployment. · p. 5
In intercalary evolution, the plesiomorphic role of the regulatory gene is to operate a differentiation gene battery, requiring it to be activated at a given developmental address.
“Here the plesiomorphic role of the regulatory gene is to operate a differentiation gene battery, requiring it to be activated at a given developmental address.”
Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim - Interpretationreasoning§ Structural Implications of Evolutionary Regulatory State Redeployment. · p. 5
In considering vertical changes in regulatory state deployment in a developmental GRN, the regulatory state is disassociated from its upstream drivers and is expressed instead at a different level of the GRN.
“In considering vertical changes in regulatory state deployment in a developmental GRN, the regulatory state is disassociated from its upstream drivers and is expressed instead at a different level of the GRN.”
Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim - Premisecitation§ Structural Implications of Evolutionary Regulatory State Redeployment. · p. 5
As regulatory circuitry controlling elaboration of the domain in which the battery is expressed builds up, the same gene is reused at higher levels of the GRN at the same address.
“As regulatory circuitry controlling elaboration of the domain in which the battery is expressed builds up, the same gene is reused at higher levels of the GRN at the same address.”
Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim - Interpretationreasoning§ Discussion · p. 5
The regulatory states to which the CNRs respond were co-opted for different sets of related functions in these branches of evolution.
“Thus, the regulatory states to which the CNRs respond were co-opted for different sets of related functions in these branches of evolution.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
- The quote only partly states this claim. 1
- May combine two claims. 24
- Classified as probably not a substantial claim. 4
The quote only partly states this claim.
Findingown data§ Transphyletic conservation of developmental regulatory state in animal evolution · p. 1The soxB2 CNR is a deeply conserved cis-regulatory DNA module recognizable at the sequence level across many phyla, including human, zebrafish, amphioxus, sea urchin, Saccoglossus, and Nematostella.
“Our probe is a deeply conserved cis -regulatory DNA module of the SRY-box B2 ( soxB2 ), recognizable at the sequence level across many phyla.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claimMay combine two claims.
Findingown data§ Transphyletic conservation of developmental regulatory state in animal evolution · p. 1The study shows that a very unusually conserved genomic regulatory sequence leads to conserved cell type-specific regulatory states, and that this regulatory state has been co-opted functionally during evolution, at least in part, for use in different levels of the developmental regulatory process.
“Here, we follow a trail that leads from a very unusually conserved genomic regulatory sequence to conserved cell type-speci fi c regulatory states, but we also show that this regulatory state has been co-opted functionally during evolution, at least in part, for use in different levels of the developmental regulatory process.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claimMay combine two claims.
Findingown data§ Results · p. 2In spinal cord sections, sox21 is expressed through almost all the cross-sectional area, as are the human CNR construct and, to a lesser extent, the sea urchin construct.
“In the spinal cord sections it can be seen that sox21 is expressed through almost all the cross-sectional area (Fig. 2 E Inset , H , K ), as are the human CNR construct (Fig. 2 I ) and, to a lesser extent, the sea urchin construct (Fig. 2 L ).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claimMay combine two claims.
Findingown data§ Results · p. 3At the 5-15 somite stage, neurogenesis has commenced in the forebrain, but the human, sea urchin, and Nematostella soxB2 CNR constructs are expressed much more widely, including regions where there still is no neurogenin expression posterior to the pax2 stripe.
“At the 5 -15 somite stage, neurogenesis has commenced in the forebrain (Fig. 3 D Inset ), but the human, sea urchin, and Nematostella soxB2 CNR constructs are expressed much more widely, including regions where there still is no neurogenin expression posterior to the pax2 stripe (Fig. 3 E -H and Fig. S5).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claimMay combine two claims.
Findingown data§ Results · p. 2At the 48-h stage, the hemichordate and Nematostella CNR constructs are expressed less robustly, although all are clearly positive in the forebrains of the transgenic fish.
“At the 48-h stage the hemichordate and Nematostella CNR constructs are expressed less robustly, although all are clearly positive in the forebrains of the transgenic fi sh (Fig. S4 C -D ).”
Quote in the paperNot a substantial claimMay combine two claims.
Findingown data§ Results · p. 4Both human and sea urchin soxB2 CNR expression constructs are expressed strongly and specifically in the late embryonic and third-instar larval CNS of Drosophila.
“Both constructs are expressed strongly and speci fi cally in the late embryonic and the third-instar larval CNS.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claimMay combine two claims.
Findingown data§ Results · p. 4Conserved SoxB2 CNRs are not detectable in the genomes of the mollusk Lottia, the annelid Capitella, the crustacean Daphnia, or Drosophila, and may not be conserved at the gross sequence level in any protostome genome.
“The conserved SoxB2 CNRs cannot be detected in the genomes of a mollusk ( Lottia ), an annelid ( Capitella ), a crustacean ( Daphnia ), or in the Drosophila genome, and perhaps it is not conserved at the gross sequence level, as in Fig. 1, in any protostome genome.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claimMay combine two claims.
Findingown data§ Results · p. 3The human SOX21 CNR construct is expressed like the endogenous zebrafish sox21b, whereas the sea urchin construct is expressed over all the anterior neuroepithelium.
“The human SOX21 CNR construct is expressed like the endogenous zebra fi sh sox21b , whereas the sea urchin construct is expressed over all the anterior neuroepithelium (Fig. 3 B and C ).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claimMay combine two claims.
Findingown data§ Results · p. 2Although at least some small patches of mature neurons denoted by HuC expression overlap with GFP expression domains, most of the spinal cord sectional area where the CNRs are active lacks mature neurons.
“Although at least some of the small patches of mature neurons denoted by HuC expression overlap with GFP expression domains, most of the spinal cord sectional area where the CNRs are active lacks mature neurons.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claimMay combine two claims.
Findingown data§ Results · p. 4When the sea urchin, human, or Nematostella soxB2 CNRs are inserted in expression vectors and injected into fertilized eggs, they are expressed in individual ciliary band neurons of the feeding larva and can be identified by GFP-stained axons.
“When the sea urchin, human, or Nematostella soxB2 CNRs are inserted in expression vectors and injected into fertilized eggs, they also are expressed in individual ciliary band neurons of the feeding larva and can be identi fi ed by the GFP-stained axons (Fig. 4 B -D ; for empty vector controls, see Fig. S7 K -M ).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claimMay combine two claims.
Findingown data§ Results · p. 4The endogenous soxB2 of the sea urchin is expressed in feeding larvae in the heavily innervated ciliary band, as well as in cells of the midgut wall.
“The endogenous soxB2 of the sea urchin is expressed in feeding larvae in the heavily innervated ciliary band, as well as in cells of the midgut wall, as shown by whole-mount FISH (Fig. 4 A ).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claimMay combine two claims.
Findingown data§ Results · p. 4In later stages of transgenic Drosophila embryos, the human HsSOX21-CNR construct is expressed in the peripheral nervous system chordotonal organs and in dorsal and ventral epidermis.
“and, in later stages, in the peripheral nervous system chordotonal organs and in dorsal and ventral epidermis”
Quote in the paperNot a substantial claimMay combine two claims.
Findingown data§ Results · p. 2The human and sea urchin constructs express in midbrain as well, but the Nematostella construct does not.
“However, the human and sea urchin constructs express in midbrain as well (Fig. 2 D and E ), but the Nematostella construct does not (Fig. 2 F ).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claimMay combine two claims.
Findingcitation§ Results · p. 4The sea urchin CNR is active in the inner proliferative center of the optic lobes, which gives rise to inner medulla and lobulla neurons, and in the outer proliferative region, which develops into lamina and outer medulla neurons.
“Here we see that the sea urchin CNR is active in the inner proliferative center of the optic lobes, which will give rise to inner medulla and lobulla neurons, and also in the outer proliferative region, which develops into lamina and outer medulla neurons (32).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked- cites [32] Meinertzhagen IA, Hanson JA (1993). The development of the optic lobe. The Development of Drosophila melanogaster, eds M. Bate and A. Martinez-Arias (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, NY), pp. 1363 -1491.
Not checked in the free run.
May combine two claims.
Findingown data§ Results · p. 2At 24 h, all three constructs (human, sea urchin, Nematostella) express clearly in the anterior forebrain, as does the endogenous sox21b gene.
“All, including the Nematostella construct, express clearly in the anterior forebrain (Fig. 2 D -F ), as does the endogenous sox21b gene (Fig. 2 G , J , M ).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claimMay combine two claims.
Findingown data§ Discussion · p. 5In zebrafish, the soxB2 CNRs become active before neurogenesis, perhaps in forebrain pattern formation, and their function then extends to some mature neurons in the spinal cord.
“In zebra fi sh, however, the soxB2 CNRs become active before neurogenesis, perhaps in forebrain pattern formation, and their function then extends to some mature neurons in the spinal cord (Figs. 4 and 5).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claimMay combine two claims.
Premisecitation§ Results · p. 4In sea urchin, injected DNA is incorporated stably and randomly in all cell lineages, but in a mosaic fashion.
“In this organism, injected DNA is incorporated stably and randomly in all cell lineages, but in a mosaic fashion (31).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked- cites [31] Livant DL, Hough-Evans BR, Moore JG, Britten RJ, Davidson EH (1991) Differential stability of expression of similarly speci fi ed endogenous and exogenous genes in the sea urchin embryo. Development 113:385 -398.
Not checked in the free run.
May combine two claims.
Interpretationnone given§ Discussion · p. 5The conserved sequence elements seen in Fig. 1B suffice to interact with a number of different transcription factors, and together these factors constitute the regulatory state to which they respond.
“The conserved sequence elements seen in Fig. 1 B obviously suf fi ce to interact with a number of different TFs, and together these factors constitute the regulatory state to which they respond.”
Quote in the paperNot a substantial claimMay combine two claims.
Premisecitation§ Transphyletic conservation of developmental regulatory state in animal evolution · p. 1The immune cells of sea urchins, lampreys, and amniotes use entirely different receptor proteins, but their deployment is controlled by homologous regulatory states in all three cases.
“For example, the immune cells of sea urchins, lampreys, and amniotes use entirely different receptor proteins, but their deployment is controlled by homologous regulatory states in all three cases (18 -20).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 3 sources checked- cites [18] Herrin BR, Cooper MD (2010) Alternative adaptive immunity in jawless vertebrates. J Immunol 185:1367 -1374. source
Not checked in the free run.
- cites [19] Hibino T, et al. (2006) The immune gene repertoire encoded in the purple sea urchin genome. Dev Biol 300:349 -365. source
Not checked in the free run.
- cites [20] Messier-Solek C, Buckley KM, Rast JP (2010) Highly diversi fi ed innate receptor systems and new forms of animal immunity. Semin Immunol 22:39 -47. of SI Materials and Methods and Tables S1 and S2 contains the detailed procedures by which the CNRs were cloned and built into expression vectors. For insertion into sea urchin eggs, the vectors were injected into egg cytoplasm; for insertion into zebra fi sh, the Tol2 system was used as described in SI Materials and Methods and the references therein. source
Not checked in the free run.
May combine two claims.
Premisecitation§ Transphyletic conservation of developmental regulatory state in animal evolution · p. 1Given regulatory states can be redeployed during evolution for use in developmental contexts other than immediate cell-type specification, and this redeployment probably is a major mechanism of evolutionary change in body plan.
“Given regulatory states can be redeployed during evolution for use in developmental contexts other than immediate cell-type speci fi cation, this redeployment probably is a major mechanism of evolutionary change in body plan (22).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked- cites [22] Gao F, Davidson EH (2008) Transfer of a large gene regulatory apparatus to a new developmental address in echinoid evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105:6091 -6096. source
Not checked in the free run.
May combine two claims.
Interpretationreasoning§ Results · p. 2The sea urchin CNR is insensitive to a regional repression function, evidently lacking the requisite target sites.
“but rather implies a regional repression function to which the sea urchin CNR is insensitive, evidently lacking the requisite target sites (Fig. 2 G and J ).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claimMay combine two claims.
Interpretationown data§ Results · p. 4At least key components of the regulatory state used plesiomorphically in differentiated sea urchin and vertebrate neurons are also expressed in the Drosophila brain and optic lobes, even though no sequence grossly similar to a soxB2 CNR exists in the Drosophila genome.
“The main conclusion from Fig. 5 is that at least key components of the regulatory state used plesiomorphically in differentiated sea urchin and vertebrate neurons also are expressed in the Drosophila brain and optic lobes, even though no sequence grossly similar to a soxB2 CNR exists in the Drosophila genome.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claimMay combine two claims.
Premisecitation§ Transphyletic conservation of developmental regulatory state in animal evolution · p. 1The integument cells that are tasked with wound repair and building the outer epidermis of insects and vertebrates use entirely different effector genes, but these genes are driven by the same regulatory factor.
“Similarly, the integument cells that are tasked with wound repair and building the outer epidermis of insects and vertebrates use entirely different effector genes, but these genes are driven by the same regulatory factor (21).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked- cites [21] Pearson JC, Juarez MT, Kim M, Drivenes O, McGinnis W (2009) Multiple transcription factor codes activate epidermal wound-response genes in Drosophila . Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106:2224 -2229. source
Not checked in the free run.
Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).
Premisereasoning§ Discussion · p. 5The last stage of a developmental process consists of the expression of differentiation gene batteries.
“The last stage consists of the expression of differentiation gene batteries.”
Quote in the paperNot a substantial claimClassified as probably not a substantial claim.
Premisecitation§ Discussion · p. 5A developmental process, such as regional development of an element of the nervous system, can be considered as the outcome of a given hierarchical GRN.
“A developmental process, such as the regional development of an element of the nervous system, can be considered as the outcome of a given hierarchical GRN(1).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked- cites [1] Peter IS, Davidson EH (2011) Evolution of gene regulatory networks controlling body plan development. Cell 144:970 -985. source
Not checked in the free run.
May combine two claims.
Premisecitation§ Structural Implications of Evolutionary Regulatory State Redeployment. · p. 5Examples cited at the beginning of the article show that the regulatory state can be disassociated from its downstream targets, and new downstream targets can be inserted.
“The examples cited at the beginning of this article in which the regulators controlling differentiation of a given cell type remain unchanged in evolution, although controlling different sets of effector genes, show that the regulatory state can be disassociated from its downstream targets, and new downstream targets can be inserted.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claimClassified as probably not a substantial claim.
Premisecitation§ Structural Implications of Evolutionary Regulatory State Redeployment. · p. 5The idea of 'intercalary evolution' has been adduced to explain the utilization of given regulatory genes in both terminal differentiation gene batteries and upstream developmental GRNs.
“The idea of ' intercalary evolution ' has been adduced to explain the utilization of given regulatory genes in both terminal differentiation gene batteries and upstream developmental GRNs (8, 41).”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 2 sources checked- cites [8] Davidson EH (2006) The Regulatory Genome. Gene Regulatory Networks in Development and Evolution (Academic/Elsevier, San Diego).
Not checked in the free run.
- cites [41] Gehring WJ, Ikeo K (1999) Pax 6: Mastering eye morphogenesis and eye evolution. Trends Genet 15:371 -377. source
Not checked in the free run.
May combine two claims.
Interpretationreasoning§ Discussion · p. 5The regulatory state recognized by the soxB2 CNRs always has been generated by developmental GRNs of the nervous system, but during evolution this regulatory state has been used at altered hierarchical positions in the GRN.
“Thus, the general answer to the questions above is that the regulatory state recognized by the soxB2 CNRs always has been generated by developmental GRNs of the nervous system, but during evolution this regulatory state has been used at altered hierarchical positions in the GRN.”
Quote in the paperNot a substantial claimClassified as probably not a substantial claim.
Interpretationreasoning§ Structural Implications of Evolutionary Regulatory State Redeployment. · p. 5A key aspect of developmental regulatory evolution could be the redeployment of regulatory states from plesiomorphic roles as drivers of differentiation gene batteries to functions that in modern GRNs control earlier developmental processes.
“A key aspect of developmental regulatory evolution could be the redeployment of regulatory states from plesiomorphic roles as drivers of differentiation gene batteries to functions that in modern GRNs control earlier developmental processes.”
Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
The paper relies on this without support.
Sea urchins have no forebrains, midbrains, spinal columns, eyes, or otic vesicles.
“Sea urchins have no forebrains, midbrains, spinal columns, eyes, or otic vesicles.”
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
NvSoxB2a is orthologous to the bilaterian SoxB2 genes.
“has recently been identified as the orthologous gene to the bilaterian SoxB2 genes and was reclassified as NvSoxB2 (ref. 47).”
From Sequential actions of β-catenin and Bmp pattern the oral nerve net in Nematostella vectensis (2014) · cites this paper as [47]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.
Sea urchin larval expression cites the zebrafish figure
MinorThe Discussion attributes expression in transgenic sea urchin larvae to Fig. 2, but Fig. 2 is captioned as zebrafish experiments; the sea urchin larvae are shown in Fig. 4.
“they express in differentiated neurons in transgenic sea urchin larvae (Fig. 2)”
“Fig. 2. Similar, although not identical, transcriptional regulatory activities of orthologous soxB2 CNRs. A -C show GFP expression controlled by the indicated soxB2 CNRs in lateral views of transgenic 48-h zebra fi sh embryos.”
Figure 4 assigns conflicting panel letters to the Nematostella construct
MinorThe Results identify panels B-D as the sea urchin, human, and Nematostella constructs, but the Fig. 4 caption assigns the Nematostella construct to panel F.
“they also are expressed in individual ciliary band neurons of the feeding larva and can be identi fi ed by the GFP-stained axons (Fig. 4 B -D ; for empty vector controls, see Fig. S7 K -M ).”
“( B and C ) Expression of sea urchin ( B ) and human ( C ) soxB2 CNR vectors. ( F ) Nematostella CNR vector.”
Zebrafish developmental claims cite figures of other animals
MinorThe Discussion cites Figs. 4 and 5 for zebrafish expression, but their captions identify sea urchin larvae and larval Drosophila CNS, respectively.
“In zebra fi sh, however, the soxB2 CNRs become active before neurogenesis, perhaps in forebrain pattern formation, and their function then extends to some mature neurons in the spinal cord (Figs. 4 and 5).”
“Fig. 4. SoxB2 -CNRs generate neuron-speci fi c expression in sea urchin larvae. Transgenic sea urchin larvae carrying reporter genes under the control of SoxB2 -CNRs from the indicated species (upper right corners).”
Cites
DEVELOPMENT IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER
Li, J.-C. (1927) · Genetics · doi:10.1093/genetics/12.2.198 · Cited by 2,887 · see citing works
The amphioxus genome and the evolution of the chordate karyotype
Putnam, N. H., Butts, T., Ferrier, D. E. K., Furlong, R. F., Hellsten, U., Kawashima, T., Robinson‐Rechavi, M., Shoguchi, E., Terry, A. Y., Yu, J., et al. (2008) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature06967 · Cited by 1,568 · see citing works
Gene Regulatory Networks and the Evolution of Animal Body Plans
Davidson, E. H., & Erwin, D. H. (2006) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1113832 · Cited by 1,207 · cited 1× · see citing works
“In animal development these GRNs are hierarchical in structure, such that the earliest-acting subcircuits at the highest levels control the activation of following subcircuits that execute the immediately succeeding jobs of a developmental process, and these subcircuits, together with external inputs, in turn control…”
BackgroundSelf-citationIn vivo enhancer analysis of human conserved non-coding sequences
Pennacchio, L. A., Ahituv, N., Moses, A. M., Prabhakar, S., Nobrega, M. A., Shoukry, M., Minovitsky, S., Dubchak, I., Holt, A., Lewis, K. D., et al. (2006) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature05295 · Cited by 1,165 · see citing works
The Regulatory Genome: Gene Regulatory Networks In Development And Evolution
Davidson, E. H. (2006) · Thammasat University Digital Collections · Cited by 1,055 · see citing works
Self-citationHighly Conserved Non-Coding Sequences Are Associated with Vertebrate Development
Woolfe, A., Goodson, M., Goode, D. K., Snell, P., McEwen, G. K., Vavouri, T., Smith, S. F., North, P., Callaway, H., Kelly, K., et al. (2004) · PLoS Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0030007 · Cited by 970 · see citing works
Distinct epigenomic landscapes of pluripotent and lineage-committed human cells
Hawkins, R. D., Hon, G. C., Lee, L. K., Ngo, Q., Lister, R., Pelizzola, M., Edsall, L. E., Kuan, S., Luu, Y., Klugman, S., et al. (2010) · Cell stem cell · doi:10.1016/j.stem.2010.03.018 · Cited by 806 · see citing works
Pax 6: mastering eye morphogenesis and eye evolution
Gehring, W. J., & Ikeo, K. (1999) · Trends in Genetics · doi:10.1016/s0168-9525(99)01776-x · Cited by 758 · see citing works
The immune gene repertoire encoded in the purple sea urchin genome
Hibino, T., Loza-Coll, M., Messier, C., Majeske, A. J., Cohen, A. H., Terwilliger, D. P., Buckley, K. M., Brockton, V., Nair, S. V., Berney, K., et al. (2006) · Developmental Biology · doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2006.08.065 · Cited by 630 · see citing works
Transcriptional regulation of photoreceptor development and homeostasis in the mammalian retina
Swaroop, A., Kim, D., & Forrest, D. (2010) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn2880 · Cited by 560 · see citing works
Anteroposterior patterning in hemichordates and the origins of the chordate nervous system
Lowe, C. J., Wu, M., Salic, A., Evans, L., Lander, E., Stange-Thomann, N., Gruber, C. E., Gerhart, J., & Kirschner, M. (2003) · Cell · doi:10.1016/s0092-8674(03)00469-0 · Cited by 531 · see citing works
The amphioxus genome illuminates vertebrate origins and cephalochordate biology
Holland, L. Z., Albalat, R., Azumi, K., Benito-Gutiérrez, È., Blow, M. J., Bronner-Fraser, M., Brunet, F., Butts, T., Candiani, S., Dishaw, L. J., et al. (2008) · Genome Research · doi:10.1101/gr.073676.107 · Cited by 512 · see citing works
Denes, A. S., Jékely, G., Steinmetz, P. R. H., Raible, F., Snyman, H., Prud'homme, B., Ferrier, D. E. K., Balavoine, G., & Arendt, D. (2007) · Cell · doi:10.1016/j.cell.2007.02.040 · Cited by 480 · see citing works
The evolution of hierarchical gene regulatory networks
Erwin, D. H., & Davidson, E. H. (2009) · Nature Reviews Genetics · doi:10.1038/nrg2499 · Cited by 454 · see citing works
Self-citationEvolution of Gene Regulatory Networks Controlling Body Plan Development
Peter, I. S., & Davidson, E. H. (2011) · Cell · doi:10.1016/j.cell.2011.02.017 · Cited by 417 · see citing works
Self-citationTessmar-Raible, K., Raible, F., Christodoulou, F., Guy, K., Rembold, M., Hausen, H., & Arendt, D. (2007) · Cell · doi:10.1016/j.cell.2007.04.041 · Cited by 384 · see citing works
Hare, E. E., Peterson, B. K., Iyer, V. N., Meier, R., & Eisen, M. B. (2008) · PLoS Genetics · doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1000106 · Cited by 302 · see citing works
Regulation of photoreceptor gene expression by Crx-associated transcription factor network
Hennig, A. K., Peng, G.-H., & Chen, S. (2008) · Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2007.06.036 · Cited by 214 · see citing works
Sox21 promotes the progression of vertebrate neurogenesis
Sandberg, M., Källström, M., & Muhr, J. (2005) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn1493 · Cited by 210 · see citing works
Tuning in to the signals: noncoding sequence conservation in vertebrate genomes
Elgar, G., & Vavouri, T. (2008) · Trends in Genetics · doi:10.1016/j.tig.2008.04.005 · Cited by 203 · see citing works
Evolution of striated muscle: Jellyfish and the origin of triploblasty
Seipel, K., & Schmid, V. (2005) · Developmental Biology · doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2005.03.032 · Cited by 172 · see citing works
Transfer of a large gene regulatory apparatus to a new developmental address in echinoid evolution
Gao, F., & Davidson, E. H. (2008) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0801201105 · Cited by 155 · see citing works
Self-citationVavouri, T., Walter, K., Gilks, W. R., Lehner, B., & Elgar, G. S. (2007) · Genome biology · doi:10.1186/gb-2007-8-2-r15 · Cited by 137 · see citing works
Buescher, M., Hing, F. S., & Chia, W. (2002) · Development · doi:10.1242/dev.129.18.4193 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
Alternative Adaptive Immunity in Jawless Vertebrates
Herrin, B. R., & Cooper, M. D. (2010) · The Journal of Immunology · doi:10.4049/jimmunol.0903128 · Cited by 107 · see citing works
Divide et Impera – the midbrain–hindbrain boundary and its organizer
Raible, F., & Brand, M. (2004) · Trends in Neurosciences · doi:10.1016/j.tins.2004.10.003 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
Structural comparison of zebrafish Elav/Hu and their differential expressions during neurogenesis
Park, H., Hong, S., Kim, H.-S., Kim, S.-H., Yoon, E.-J., Kim, C., Miki, N., & Huh, T. (2000) · Neuroscience Letters · doi:10.1016/s0304-3940(99)00940-4 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Highly diversified innate receptor systems and new forms of animal immunity
Messier-Solek, C., Buckley, K. M., & Rast, J. P. (2010) · Seminars in Immunology · doi:10.1016/j.smim.2009.11.007 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Sox Neuro , a new Drosophila Sox gene expressed in the developing central nervous system
Crémazy, F., Berta, P., & Girard, F. (2000) · Mechanisms of Development · doi:10.1016/s0925-4773(00)00268-9 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Oda-Ishii, I., Bertrand, V., Matsuo, I., Lemaire, P., & Saiga, H. (2005) · Development · doi:10.1242/dev.01707 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Hinman, V. F., Nguyen, A., & Davidson, E. H. (2007) · Developmental Biology · doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2007.09.006 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Self-citationMultiple transcription factor codes activate epidermal wound–response genes in <i>Drosophila</i>
Pearson, J. C., Juarez, M. T., Kim, M., Drivenes, Ø., & McGinnis, W. (2009) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0810219106 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Evolutionary innovation and stability in animal gene networks
Davidson, E. H., & Erwin, D. H. (2010) · Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution · doi:10.1002/jez.b.21329 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Self-citationThe words of the regulatory code are arranged in a variable manner in highly conserved enhancers
Rastegar, S., Hess, I., Dickmeis, T., Nicod, J. C., Ertzer, R., Hadzhiev, Y., Thies, W.-G., Scherer, G., & Strähle, U. (2008) · Developmental Biology · doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2008.03.034 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Hayakawa, E., Fujisawa, C., & Fujisawa, T. (2004) · Development Genes and Evolution · doi:10.1007/s00427-004-0430-4 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Livant, D. L., Hough‐Evans, B. R., Moore, J. G., Britten, R. J., & Davidson, E. H. (1991) · Development · doi:10.1242/dev.113.2.385 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Self-citationAn integrated view of precambrian eumetazoan evolution
Davidson, E. H., & Erwin, D. H. (2009) · Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology · doi:10.1101/sqb.2009.74.042 · Cited by 48 · cited 3× · see citing works
“Denes AS, et al. (2007) Molecular architecture of annelid nerve cord supports common origin of nervous system centralization in Bilateria.”
BackgroundSelf-citationRanade, S. S., Yang-Zhou, D., Kong, S. W., McDonald, E. C., Cook, T. A., & Pignoni, F. (2008) · Developmental Biology · doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2007.12.017 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Argenton, F., Giudici, S., Deflorian, G., Cimbro, S., Cotelli, F., & Beltrame, M. (2004) · Mechanisms of Development · doi:10.1016/j.mod.2004.01.001 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Large Number of Ultraconserved Elements Were Already Present in the Jawed Vertebrate Ancestor
Wang, J., Lee, A., Kodzius, R., Brenner, S., & Venkatesh, B. (2008) · Molecular Biology and Evolution · doi:10.1093/molbev/msn278 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Seibert, J., & Urbach, R. (2010) · Developmental Biology · doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2010.07.024 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- IA Meinertzhagen JA Hanson The development of the optic lobe. The Development of Drosophila melanogaster. eds M Bate A Martinez-Arias (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press Cold Spring Harbor NY) pp. 1363–1491 (1993).
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Enhancers: five essential questions
Pennacchio, L. A., Bickmore, W. A., Dean, A., Nóbrega, M. A., & Bejerano, G. (2013) · Nature Reviews Genetics · doi:10.1038/nrg3458 · Cited by 584 · see citing works
From nerve net to nerve ring, nerve cord and brain — evolution of the nervous system
Arendt, D., Tosches, M. A., & Marlow, H. (2016) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn.2015.15 · Cited by 279 · see citing works
Hemichordate genomes and deuterostome origins
Simakov, O., Kawashima, T., Marlétaz, F., Jenkins, J. W., Koyanagi, R., Mitros, T., Hisata, K., Bredeson, J. V., Shoguchi, E., Gyoja, F., et al. (2015) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature16150 · Cited by 250 · see citing works
Deep conservation of the enhancer regulatory code in animals
Wong, E. S., Zheng, D., Tan, S. Z., Bower, N. I., Garside, V., Vanwalleghem, G., Gaiti, F., Scott, E., Hogan, B. M., Kikuchi, K., et al. (2020) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aax8137 · Cited by 176 · see citing works
“Between Bilateria and its sister lineage Cnidaria, only a single conserved enhancer has been uncovered (12).”
BackgroundBerthelot, C., Villar, D., Horvath, J. E., Odom, D. T., & Flicek, P. (2017) · Nature Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1038/s41559-017-0377-2 · Cited by 159 · see citing works
Irimia, M., Tena, J. J., Alexis, M. S., Fernandez-Miñan, A., Maeso, I., Bogdanović, O., de la Calle-Mustienes, E., Roy, S. W., Gómez-Skarmeta, J. L., & Fraser, H. B. (2012) · Genome Research · doi:10.1101/gr.139725.112 · Cited by 146 · see citing works
“For example, in the case of Isl, it is not clear which common regulatory role may be responsible for the conservation of the association between bilaterians and sponges, which have no proper neurons (Hooper and Van Soest 2002; Sakarya et al. 2007).”
BackgroundSelf-citationRichards, G. S., & Rentzsch, F. (2014) · Development · doi:10.1242/dev.112029 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
Deciphering the transcriptional cis-regulatory code
Yáñez-Cuna, J. O., Kvon, E. Z., & Stark, A. (2012) · Trends in Genetics · doi:10.1016/j.tig.2012.09.007 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
Spieler, D., Kaffe, M., Knauf, F., Bessa, J., Tena, J. J., Giesert, F., Schormair, B., Tilch, E., Lee, H., Horsch, M., et al. (2014) · Genome Research · doi:10.1101/gr.166751.113 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
“Generation and analysis of transgenic animals In zebrafish, microinjections and screening was performed as previously reported (Royo et al. 2011).”
MethodSelf-citationEvolution of eumetazoan nervous systems: insights from cnidarians
Kelava, I., Rentzsch, F., & Technau, U. (2015) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2015.0065 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
“Of the 14 Sox genes present in Nematostella and Hydra [17,24,47,70], one gene, SoxB(2) (termed SoxB2 in reference [24] and SoxBa in reference [71]), is expressed in single cells during gastrulation, consistent with a role in neuronal differentiation [24].”
Sequential actions of β-catenin and Bmp pattern the oral nerve net in Nematostella vectensis
Watanabe, H., Kuhn, A., Fushiki, M., Agata, K., Özbek, S., Fujisawa, T., & Holstein, T. W. (2014) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/ncomms6536 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Unraveling the Tangled Skein: The Evolution of Transcriptional Regulatory Networks in Development
Rebeiz, M., Patel, N. H., & Hinman, V. F. (2015) · Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics · doi:10.1146/annurev-genom-091212-153423 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
The mystery of extreme non-coding conservation
Harmston, N., Barešić, A., & Lenhard, B. (2013) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2013.0021 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Evolution of transcriptional enhancers and animal diversity
Rubinstein, M., & de Souza, F. S. J. (2013) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2013.0017 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Kozmiková, I., Candiani, S., Fábián, P., Gurská, D., & Kozmík, Z. (2013) · Developmental Biology · doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2013.07.021 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Human Developmental Enhancers Conserved between Deuterostomes and Protostomes
Clarke, S. L., VanderMeer, J. E., Wenger, A. M., Schaar, B. T., Ahituv, N., & Bejerano, G. (2012) · PLoS Genetics · doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1002852 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
“Even the oldest known enhancer, conserved between deuterostomes and the cnidarian sea anemone, has not been found to be conserved in protostomes [12].”
Ten-Year Research Update Review: Antiviral Activities from Marine Organisms
Riccio, G., Ruocco, N., Mutalipassi, M., Costantini, M., Zupo, V., Coppola, D., de Pascale, D., & Lauritano, C. (2020) · Biomolecules · doi:10.3390/biom10071007 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Defining the Teratoma as a Model for Multi-lineage Human Development
McDonald, D., Wu, Y., Dailamy, A., Tat, J., Parekh, U., Zhao, D., Hu, M. Y., Tipps, A. M. P., Zhang, K., & Mali, P. (2020) · Cell · doi:10.1016/j.cell.2020.10.018 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
“, 2019) have demonstrated that many features of early embryogenesis are evolutionarily conserved across species (Lin et al., 2009; Peter and Davidson, 2011; Royo et al., 2011).”
BackgroundOrigin and evolution of the metazoan non-coding regulatory genome
Gaiti, F., Calcino, A., Tanurdžić, M., & Degnan, B. M. (2016) · Developmental Biology · doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2016.11.013 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Dylus, D. V., Czarkwiani, A., Stångberg, J., Ortega‐Martinez, O., Dupont, S., & Oliveri, P. (2016) · EvoDevo · doi:10.1186/s13227-015-0039-x · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Perfect and imperfect views of ultraconserved sequences
Snetkova, V., Pennacchio, L. A., Visel, A., & Dickel, D. E. (2021) · Nature Reviews Genetics · doi:10.1038/s41576-021-00424-x · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Jj, González-Aguilera, Fernández-Miñán, Vázquez-Marín, Parra-Acero, Cross, Jw, Rigby, Pwj, Carvajal, et al. (2014) · Genome Research · doi:10.1101/gr.163915.113 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
“Whereas in closely related vertebrates, the high overall genome similarity masks the identification of noncoding conserved elements, only a few of them can be identified outside the vertebrate group and even less show enough transphyletic conservation to be tracked beyond the Cambrian horizon (McEwen et al. 2009; Royo…”
BackgroundDecoding enhancer complexity with machine learning and high-throughput discovery
Smith, G. D., Ching, W. H., Cornejo‐Páramo, P., & Wong, E. S. W. (2023) · Genome biology · doi:10.1186/s13059-023-02955-4 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
“Only one example of strict sequence conservation extending beyond bilaterians has been reported among animal enhancers [112].”
BackgroundSea urchin neural development and the metazoan paradigm of neurogenesis
Burke, R. D., Moller, D. J., Krupke, O. A., & Taylor, V. J. (2014) · genesis · doi:10.1002/dvg.22750 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Maeso, I., Irimia, M., Tena, J. J., González-Pérez, E., Tran, D., Ravi, V., Venkatesh, B., Campuzano, S., Gómez-Skármeta, J. L., & García‐Fernàndez, J. (2012) · Genome Research · doi:10.1101/gr.132233.111 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
“does exist, even across phyla (Royo et al. 2011), and consistent results such as those”
ResultSelf-citationCell differentiation: What have we learned in 50 years?
Newman, S. A. (2019) · Journal of Theoretical Biology · doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2019.110031 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
“In phylogenetic terms, conserved regulatory states can be successively redeployed as modules for new cell types without the system-level constraints on their generation implied in the evolution of GRGDs (Royo et al., 2011).”
BackgroundEmbryonic development of the nervous system in the planarian Schmidtea polychroa
Monjo, F., & Romero, R. (2014) · Developmental Biology · doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2014.10.021 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Paps, J., Holland, P. W. H., & Shimeld, S. M. (2012) · Briefings in Functional Genomics · doi:10.1093/bfgp/els012 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
“Thus only the SoxB1, SoxB2, SoxC, SoxD, SoxE and SoxF gene families conform to the definition of each deriving from a single gene in the common ancestor of the Bilateria, however we also include SoxH as we can infer its origin predates the radiation of chordates [47].”
BackgroundWidespread Recurrent Evolution of Genomic Features
Maeso, I., Roy, S. W., & Irimia, M. (2012) · Genome Biology and Evolution · doi:10.1093/gbe/evs022 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Self-citationThe origins of developmental gene regulation
Arenas‐Mena, C. (2017) · Evolution & Development · doi:10.1111/ede.12217 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Independent evolution of genomic characters during major metazoan transitions
Simakov, O., & Kawashima, T. (2016) · Developmental Biology · doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2016.11.012 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Single-cell atavism reveals an ancient mechanism of cell type diversification in a sea anemone
Babonis, L. S., Enjolras, C., Reft, A., Foster, B. M., Hugosson, F., Ryan, J. F., Daly, M., & Martindale, M. Q. (2023) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-023-36615-9 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Comparative genomics of the Hedgehog loci in chordates and the origins of Shh regulatory novelties
Irimia, M., Royo, J. L., Burguera, D., Maeso, I., Gómez-Skármeta, J. L., & García‐Fernàndez, J. (2012) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/srep00433 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Self-citationAncestral regulatory mechanisms specify conserved midbrain circuitry in arthropods and vertebrates
Bridi, J. C., Ludlow, Z. N., Kottler, B., Hartmann, B., Broeck, L. V., Dearlove, J., Göker, M., Strausfeld, N. J., Callaerts, P., & Hirth, F. (2020) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1918797117 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
“Any matching sequences were scrutinized for further analysis on the basis of criteria that have been used previously to identify transphyletic cis-regulatory DNA sequences (57).”
Deep conservation of cis -regulatory elements in metazoans
Maeso, I., Irimia, M., Tena, J. J., Casares, F., & Gómez-Skármeta, J. L. (2013) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2013.0020 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Self-citationAncient cis-regulatory constraints and the evolution of genome architecture
Irimia, M., Maeso, I., Roy, S. W., & Fraser, H. B. (2013) · Trends in Genetics · doi:10.1016/j.tig.2013.05.008 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Self-citationThe Functionality and Evolution of Eukaryotic Transcriptional Enhancers
Buffry, A. D., Mendes, C. C., & McGregor, A. P. (2016) · Advances in genetics · doi:10.1016/bs.adgen.2016.08.004 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Erkenbrack, E. M., Davidson, E. H., & Peter, I. S. (2018) · Development · doi:10.1242/dev.167288 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
“in the nervous system (Royo et al., 2011) and in several cell types throughout bilateria (Arendt et al.”
BackgroundSelf-citationSanges, R., Hadzhiev, Y., Guéroult-Bellone, M., Roure, A., Ferg, M., Meola, N., Amore, G., Basu, S., Brown, E. R., Simone, M. D., et al. (2013) · Nucleic Acids Research · doi:10.1093/nar/gkt030 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
“Recently, an interesting article showed the conservation of both sequence and function of a neural-specific enhancer conserved among human, zebrafish, amphioxus, Saccoglossus, sea urchin and Nematostella (12).”
BackgroundLens development depends on a pair of highly conserved Sox21 regulatory elements
Pauls, S., Smith, S. F., & Elgar, G. S. (2012) · Developmental Biology · doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2012.02.025 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
“In fact, CNE 17 may perhaps be considered the most conserved enhancer in all metazoans because a regulatory sequence corresponding to its 3' region was recently identified even in Cnidaria (Royo et al., 2011).”
BackgroundIdentification and Analysis of Conserved cis-Regulatory Regions of the MEIS1 Gene
Royo, J. L., Bessa, J., Hidalgo, C. H., Fernández‐Miñán, A., Tena, J. J., Roncero, Y., Gómez-Skármeta, J. L., & Casares, F. (2012) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0033617 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
“Thirteen HCNRs out of the nineteen (68%) exhibited clear enhancer activity when compared to stable lines carrying just the empty backbone (Figure 1) [39,40].”
BackgroundSelf-citationExtreme genome scrambling in marine planktonic Oikopleura dioica cryptic speciesPreprint
Plessy, C., Mansfield, M. J., Bliznina, A., Masunaga, A., West, C., Tan, Y., Liu, A. W., Grašič, J., Pisula, M. S. D. R., Sánchez-Serna, G., et al. (2024) · Genome Research · doi:10.1101/gr.278295.123 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
“In terms of noncoding elements, repeats were depleted in isolated alignments, whereas conserved noncoding elements were enriched, with a peak downstream from the alignment start position, consistent with previously re-ported patterns of erosion (Royo et al. 2011).”
ResultHaber, M. H., & Benham, B. (2012) · The American Journal of Bioethics · doi:10.1080/15265161.2012.699139 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
“Recent empirical work suggests this trend of discovery will continue (Parikh et al. 2010; Royo et al. 2011).”
BackgroundEye Selector Logic for a Coordinated Cell Cycle Exit
Lopes, C. S., & Casares, F. (2015) · PLoS Genetics · doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1004981 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
“Two reporter vectors were used for assaying enhancer activity: pRVV54 that uses nuclear lacZ as reporter [70], and pBPUwdGFP which uses destabilized GFP as reporter [71].”
Self-citationYue, J., Kozmiková, I., Ono, H., Nossa, C. W., Kozmík, Z., Putnam, N. H., Yu, J., & Holland, L. Z. (2016) · Genome Biology and Evolution · doi:10.1093/gbe/evw158 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Touceda‐Suárez, M., Kita, E. M., Acemel, R. D., Firbas, P., Magri, M. S., Naranjo, S., Tena, J. J., Gómez-Skármeta, J. L., Maeso, I., & Irimia, M. (2020) · Molecular Biology and Evolution · doi:10.1093/molbev/msaa123 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Self-citationSoxB2 in sea urchin development: implications in neurogenesis, ciliogenesis and skeletal patterning
Anishchenko, E., Arnone, M. I., & D’Aniello, S. (2018) · EvoDevo · doi:10.1186/s13227-018-0094-1 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
“Nevertheless, in other animals, SoxB2 is prevalently a key regulator of the nervous system specification, as shown in cnidarian Nematostella vectensis [30, 31], in fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster [7], in hemichordate Ptychodera flava [14] and in chordates amphioxus [15, 32] and vertebrates [5, 6, 9, 10].”
Self-citationThe 3D-Evo Space: Evolution of Gene Expression and Alternative Splicing Regulation
Mantica, F., & Irimia, M. (2022) · Annual Review of Genetics · doi:10.1146/annurev-genet-071719-020653 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Self-citationGain of gene regulatory network interconnectivity at the origin of vertebrates
Gil‐Gálvez, A., Jiménez-Gancedo, S., Pérez-Posada, A., Franke, M., Acemel, R. D., Lin, C.-Y., Chou, C., Su, Y., Yu, J., Bertrand, S., et al. (2022) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2114802119 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
“issue, we interrogated the seven regulatory regions known to be conserved between vertebrates and invertebrates (29), searching for TF-binding sites in the orthologous sequences of both zebrafish and amphioxus.”
BackgroundSchuster, H. C., & Hirth, F. (2023) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.ade8259 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
“Phylogenetic screening for presence/absence calls was performed on the basis of criteria that have been used previously to identify transphyletic cis-regulatory DNA sequences ( 63 ).”
Ariza‐Cosano, A., Visel, A., Pennacchio, L. A., Fraser, H. B., Gómez-Skármeta, J. L., Irimia, M., & Bessa, J. (2012) · BMC Genomics · doi:10.1186/1471-2164-13-713 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
“In addition, this vector contains the gata2a minimal promoter, which has been has been shown to be able to read a wide range of enhancers in enhancer assays [19,27,30-40].”
BackgroundSelf-citationLevy, S., Brekhman, V., Bakhman, A. F., Malik, A., Sebé-Pedrós, A., Kosloff, M., & Lotan, T. (2020) · Nature Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1038/s41559-020-01338-3 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Parallel Evolution of Chordate Cis-Regulatory Code for Development
Doglio, L. E., Goode, D. K., Pelleri, M. C., Pauls, S., Frabetti, F., Shimeld, S. M., Vavouri, T., & Elgar, G. S. (2013) · PLoS Genetics · doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1003904 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
“However, with just a few exceptions [8,9], vertebrate CNEs do not show strong sequence similarity to nonvertebrate sequences.”
BackgroundYork, J. R., Zehnder, K., Yuan, T., Lakiza, O., & McCauley, D. W. (2019) · Developmental Biology · doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2019.06.010 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
CDX4 regulates the progression of neural maturation in the spinal cord
Joshi, P. K., Darr, A. J., & Skromne, I. (2019) · Developmental Biology · doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2019.02.014 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
The Development and Neuronal Complexity of Bipinnaria Larvae of the Sea Star Asterias rubens
Carter, H. F., Thompson, J. R., Elphick, M. R., & Oliveri, P. (2021) · Integrative and Comparative Biology · doi:10.1093/icb/icab103 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Martínez‐Morales, J. R. (2015) · Briefings in Functional Genomics · doi:10.1093/bfgp/elv032 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Davidson, E. H., & Peter, I. S. (2015) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-404729-7.00002-2 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Self-citationGordon, K. L., Arthur, R. K., & Ruvinsky, I. (2015) · PLoS Genetics · doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1005268 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Cavalieri, V., Geraci, F., & Spinelli, G. (2017) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0174404 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
A Simple Predictive Enhancer Syntax for Hindbrain Patterning Is Conserved in Vertebrate Genomes
Grice, J., Noyvert, B., Doglio, L. E., & Elgar, G. S. (2015) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0130413 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
“Far fewer conserved elements are detectable, even at lower identity, in invertebrate chordates [54,55] and beyond [56,57], suggesting that nearly all mammal-fugu CNEs, at least in their present forms, are either vertebrate or gnathostome novelties.”
BackgroundGao, F., Li, C., Smith, S., Peinado, N., Kohbodi, G. A., Tran, E., Loh, Y. E., Li, W., Borok, Z., & Minoo, P. (2022) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.77522 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Self-citationDNA Conserved in Diverse Animals Since the Precambrian Controls Genes for Embryonic Development
Frith, M. C., & Ni, S. (2023) · Molecular Biology and Evolution · doi:10.1093/molbev/msad275 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
“A pioneering study by Royo et al. (2011) found several regulatory DNA segments conserved across deuterostomes, but found none of them in any non-deuterostome, except, amazingly, two in sea anemone, which is not even bilaterian.”
BackgroundInfluentialLife: the final frontier for complexity?
Morris, S. C. (2013) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781139225700.010 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Regulatory elements retained during chordate evolution: Coming across tunicates
Vassalli, Q. A., Anishchenko, E., Caputi, L., Sordino, P., D’Aniello, S., & Locascio, A. (2014) · genesis · doi:10.1002/dvg.22838 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Self-citationMagri, M. S., Voronov, D., Foley, S., Martínez‐García, P. M., Franke, M., Cary, G. A., Santos-Pereira, J. M., Cuomo, C., Fernández-Moreno, M. D., Portela, M., et al. (2026) · Nature Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1038/s41559-025-02941-y · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“This region had been identified as a deeply conserved non-coding sequence in previous works 35,37 (Fig.”
Self-citationDissection of a Ciona regulatory element reveals complexity of cross-species enhancer activity
Chen, W., Pauls, S., Bacha, J., Elgar, G. S., Loose, M., & Shimeld, S. M. (2014) · Developmental Biology · doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2014.03.013 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Davies, N. J., Krusche, P., Tauber, E., & Ott, S. (2015) · BMC Evolutionary Biology · doi:10.1186/s12862-015-0499-6 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“The first two sequences of this kind to be discovered were found conserved between a variety of deuterostomes and a cnidarian, Nematostella vectensis [11], dating back over 670 million years [12].”
BackgroundInfluentialFunctional conserved non-coding elements among tunicates and chordates
Ambrosino, L., Vassalli, Q. A., D’Agostino, Y., Esposito, R., Cetrangolo, V., Caputi, L., Amoroso, A., Aniello, F., D’Aniello, S., Chatzigeorgiou, M., et al. (2018) · Developmental Biology · doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2018.12.012 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Self-citationCaccavale, F., Osca, D., D’Aniello, S., & Crocetta, F. (2021) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0251358 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Self-citationSchember, I., Reid, W. R., Sterling-Lentsch, G., & Halfon, M. S. (2024) · PLoS Genetics · doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1010891 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Evolution of lineage-specific functions in ancient cis -regulatory modules
Pauls, S., Goode, D. K., Petrone, L., Oliveri, P., & Elgar, G. S. (2015) · Open Biology · doi:10.1098/rsob.150079 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“However, recent results suggest that at least a handful of CNEs predate not only the emergence of vertebrates but possibly the emergence of bilaterian animals in general [5,6].”
BackgroundResultInfluentialATAC-Seq for Assaying Chromatin Accessibility Protocol Using Echinoderm Embryos
Magri, M. S., Voronov, D., Ranđelović, J., Cuomo, C., Gómez-Skármeta, J. L., & Arnone, M. I. (2020) · Methods in molecular biology · doi:10.1007/978-1-0716-0974-3_16 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Yasuoka, Y. (2020) · Development Growth & Differentiation · doi:10.1111/dgd.12684 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“Later, enhancer activity of soxB2/sox21 CNEs was examined using zebrafish embryos (Royo et al., 2011).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialEarly origin and deep conservation of enhancers in animalsPreprint
Wong, E. S. W., Tan, S. Z., Garside, V. C., Vanwalleghem, G. C., Gaiti, F., Scott, E. K., McGlinn, E., François, M., & Degnan, B. M. (2019) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/633651 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“Between eumetazoan phyla (bilaterians and cnidarians), only a single conserved enhancer has been uncovered (12).”
BackgroundUltraconserved Sequences Associated with HoxD Cluster Have Strong Repression Activity
Kushawah, G., & Mishra, R. K. (2017) · Genome Biology and Evolution · doi:10.1093/gbe/evx148 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“1) (Sabarinadh et al. 2003, 2004).”
Sánchez-Aragón, M., Cantisán, J., Luque, C. M., Brás‐Pereira, C., Lopes, C. S., Lemos, M. C., & Casares, F. (2019) · Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution · doi:10.3389/fevo.2019.00221 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“The cloned fragment was then transferred into the pBPUw-dGFP Gateway integration vector (Royo et al., 2011) according to the manufacturer’s recommendations (Invitrogen).”
MethodSelf-citationTransphyletic conservation of nitric oxide synthase regulation in cephalochordates and tunicates
Caccavale, F., Coppola, U., Vassalli, Q. A., Vecchia, C. L., Palumbo, A., D’Aniello, E., Locascio, A., Ristoratore, F., & D’Aniello, S. (2020) · Development Genes and Evolution · doi:10.1007/s00427-020-00668-3 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“These fragments were tested for in vivo transgenic enhancer activity assay in larvae of another chordate species, the tunicate C. robusta (Royo et al. 2011; Ambrosino et al. 2019).”
BackgroundSelf-citationExtreme genome scrambling in cryptic Oikopleura dioica speciesPreprint
Plessy, C., Mansfield, M. J., Bliznina, A., Masunaga, A., West, C., Tan, Y., Liu, A. W., Grašič, J., Pisula, M. S. D. R., Sánchez-Serna, G., et al. (2023) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2023.05.09.539028 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“In terms of non-coding elements, repeat regions were depleted in isolated alignments, while conserved non-coding elements (See Methods) were enriched, with a peak downstream of the alignment start position, consistent with previously reported patterns of erosion (Royo et al. 2011).”
A transphyletic study of metazoan β-catenin protein complexes
Mbogo, I., Kawano, C., Nakamura, R., Tsuchiya, Y., Villar‐Briones, A., Hirao, Y., Yasuoka, Y., Hayakawa, E., Tomii, K., & Watanabe, H. (2024) · Zoological Letters · doi:10.1186/s40851-024-00243-y · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Ren, Y., Miao, Z., Lin, C.-Y., Yang, L., Li, H., Holland, L. Z., Cho, S.-J., Yu, J., & Yue, J. (2026) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2521280123 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Regulation in common: Sponge to zebrafish
Harmston, N. (2020) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.abe9317 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Conservation of cis-Regulatory Syntax Underlying Deuterostome Gastrulation
Buono, L., Annona, G., Magri, M. S., Negueruela, S., Sepe, R. M., Caccavale, F., Maeso, I., Arnone, M. I., & D’Aniello, S. (2024) · Cells · doi:10.3390/cells13131121 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Self-citationCorrection: Parallel Evolution of Chordate Cis-Regulatory Code for Development
Doglio, L. E., Goode, D. K., Pelleri, M. C., Pauls, S., Frabetti, F., Shimeld, S. M., Vavouri, T., & Elgar, G. S. (2013) · PLoS Genetics · doi:10.1371/annotation/1fc82a4b-f9ea-461a-8987-1152078688e4 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Boosting Macroevolution: Genomic Changes Triggering Qualitative Expansions of Regulatory Potential
Irimia, M., & Maeso, I. (2019) · Fascinating life sciences · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-18202-1_9 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Self-citationNewman, S. A. (2020) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-817996-3.00011-6 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Tunicate Neurogenesis: The Case of the SoxB2 Missing CNE
Anishchenko, E., & D’Aniello, S. (2015) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-23497-7_7
Self-citationNasonia vitripennis : an emerging model organism for chronobiology
Davies, N. J. (2017) · Leicester Research Archive (University of Leicester)
Levy, S., Brekhman, V., Bakhman, A. F., Sebé-Pedrós, A., Kosloff, M., & Lotan, T. (2019) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/621060
“In Nematostella, the exact classification of SoxB subgroups is not clear (60-62).”
Background[Delusion and Rose's disease].
Palacios, A. R.-P., Pacual, R. J. L., Llord, L. P., & Gil, A. L. (2003) · PubMed
A transphyletic study of metazoan β-catenin protein complexesPreprint
Mbogo, I., Kawano, C., Nakamura, R., Tsuchiya, Y., Villar‐Briones, A., Hirao, Y., Yasuoka, Y., Hayakawa, E., Tomii, K., & Watanabe, H. (2024) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2024.07.01.600363
A transphyletic study of metazoan β-catenin protein complexesPreprint
Mbogo, I., Kawano, C., Nakamura, R., Tsuchiya, Y., Villar‐Briones, A., Hirao, Y., Yasuoka, Y., Hayakawa, E., Tomii, K., & Watanabe, H. (2024) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-4627469/v1
Guéroult-Bellone, M. (2016) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/59604ff1z809az4462zb8f9z6a8870b33001
- Authors
- Royo, J. L., Maeso, I., Irimia, M., Gao, F., Peter, I. S., Lopes, C. S., D'Aniello, S., Casares, F., Davidson, E. H., Garcia-Fernández, J., & Gómez-Skarmeta, J. L.
- Affiliations
- Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas - Universidad Pablo de Olavide, E-41013 Sevilla, Spain;
- Institut de Biomedicina de la Universitat de Barcelona (ES)
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ES)
- Departament de Genetica, and Institut de Biomedicina, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona E-08028, Spain; and
- Corresponding author
- Davidson, Eric H.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2011-08-15
- Volume
- 108
- Issue
- 34
- Pages
- 14186-14191
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC3161536
- OpenAlex
- W1977704866
- Cited by
- 93
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 3.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- DIGITAL.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5p01hd037105-20)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD 037105, P01-HD037105)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Marine Invertebrate Physiology and Ecology
- Keywords
- cis-regulatory modules, neuronal differentiation, neurogenesis, forebrain patterning, optic lobe, central nervous system evolution, Nematostella, Drosophila, sea urchins, fish, mammals, gene expression evolution
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Base Sequence, Brain, Drosophila, Enhancer Elements, Genetic, Biological Evolution, Larva, Molecular Sequence Data, Phylogeny, Sea Urchins, Zebrafish, Conserved Sequence, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, DNA, Intergenic, Animals, Genetically Modified, SOXB2 Transcription Factors
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Claims read by deepseek-v4.1-flash under definition version 3 (extract-v3) on 2026-10-06.
Classified by jev-1.13-20260917 (gold-guideline-v0.2) on 2026-10-06.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review