Aurelie Hintermann

Thanks to all authors for collaborating! @gvalentinepfl.bsky.social ntinepfl.bsky.social Lucille Lopez-Delisle @madeline-ryan.bsky.social Sandra Gitto, Paula Barrera Gómez, Bénédicte Mascrez, Thomas Mansour @nakamuralab.bsky.social Matthew Harris @neilshubin.bsky.social

Schematic of the evolutionary co-option of the HoxD 5DOM regulatory landscape.

Nature creates novelty from pre-existing systems! We propose that the regulatory system active in distal limbs was reused in tetrapods from a preexisting cloacal regulatory machinery. Importantly, this involved the co-option of the complete regulatory landscape rather than individual enhancers.

Loss of hox13 genes results in fused hindgut and pronephric exits.

We show that distal hox genes are essential for correct cloacal formation in zebrafish, as hox13 loss results in terminal tract fusion, similar to mouse mutants.

hoxd13a WISH in zebrafish embryonic cloaca

Instead, we found that deleting the 5DOM completely ablates expression in the cloaca, a structure related by ancestry to the mammalian urogenital sinus, where the terminal regions of the intestinal, excretory and reproductive systems come together.

hoxd13a HCR in zebrafish fins

Deleting the 5DOM in mice ablates Hoxd expression in the digits. To our shock, we found that deleting this region in zebrafish does not disrupt Hoxd expression in fins! This indicates that Hoxd expression in fins is controlled by a regulatory mechanism independent of the one active in limbs.

hoxd13a reporter in a zebrafish fin

The presence of a syntenic region in zebrafish, which lacks digits, suggests deep homology of Hoxd gene regulation in vertebrate appendages. But is this region really activating Hoxd transcription in fins? We tested this hypothesis by deleting the entire 5DOM (~400 kb!) in zebrafish.

Hoxd13 WISH in the distal forelimb of a mouse embryo

Analysis of Hox gene expression has been critical to explain the origin of novel features such as the limb. Hoxd gene transcription in the digits of terrestrial vertebrates depends on a large regulatory landscape (5DOM). However, how this regulatory region evolved has remained unresolved.

hoxd13a reporter in a zebrafish larva

Are digits modified fins, or evolutionary innovations? Read how we tackled this old question from a new angle🧪
A story with @chasebolt.bsky.social, @homeobox.bsky.social and myself, coordinated by @denisduboule.bsky.social from @college-de-france.fr and published in @nature.com today!
#InHoxWeTrust

Congrats Brent!!

Super nice poster #EMBLChromatin

Chromatin loops are an ancestral hallmark of the animal regulatory genome - Nature The physical organization of the genome in non-bilaterian animals and their closest unicellular relatives is characterized; comparative analysis shows chromatin looping is a conserved feature of ...

Chromatin loops and the origin of animals www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This #MicroscopyMonday explores when nature plays with symmetry across species. A rare two-headed Killifish(left) and #Zebrafish(right) conjoined larvae can occur, seen above with a fluorescent label marking the lateral line (a sensory system). (Piotrowski Lab)

I hope you got a good grade 😜