Fan Tzu-Pei, Lee Jun-Ru, Lin Che-Yi, Chen Yi-Chih, Cutting Ann E, Cameron R Andrew, Yu Jr-Kai, Su Yi-Hsien
Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
Sci Adv. 2025 Jul 25;11(30):eadw3307. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adw3307.
Expression of in the notochord is regarded as a chordate novelty and links to the origin of the notochord, yet the evolution of this regulatory control remains unclear. Here, we uncovered a regulatory syntax (named SFZE) consisting of binding sites for four transcription factors in notochord enhancers of chordate genes. SFZE was also identified in potential enhancers in various non-chordate animals and even in , a unicellular relative to animals. These non-chordate SFZE-containing enhancers exhibited activity in the zebrafish notochord. Furthermore, the SFZE syntax in a non-chordate confers endoderm activity. Our results indicate the ancient association of SFZE with , likely predating the origin of animals. The emergence of notochordal expression could be attributed to co-option of upstream signals acting on the conserved SFZE syntax, which facilitates the origin of the notochord from rudimentary endodermal cells.
在脊索中的表达被视为脊索动物的一种新特征，并与脊索的起源相关联，然而这种调控控制的进化仍不清楚。在这里，我们发现了一种调控语法（命名为SFZE），它由脊索动物基因的脊索增强子中四个转录因子的结合位点组成。在各种非脊索动物甚至在与动物有单细胞亲缘关系的生物中，也在潜在的增强子中鉴定出了SFZE。这些含有非脊索动物SFZE的增强子在斑马鱼的脊索中表现出活性。此外，非脊索动物中的SFZE语法赋予内胚层活性。我们的结果表明SFZE与生物的古老关联，可能早于动物的起源。脊索中基因表达的出现可能归因于作用于保守的SFZE语法的上游信号的共同选择，这促进了从原始内胚层细胞产生脊索。
