A TAD Skeptic: Is 3D Genome Topology Conserved?

Shaping gene expression and its evolution by chromatin architecture and enhancer activity

Transcriptional regulation plays a pivotal role in orchestrating the intricate genetic programs governing embryonic development. The expression of developmental genes relies on the combined activity of several cis-regulatory elements (CREs), such as enhancers and silencers, which can be located at long linear distances from the genes that they regulate and that interact with them through establishment of chromatin loops. Mutations affecting their activity or interaction with their target genes can lead to developmental disorders and are thought to have importantly contributed to the evolution of the animal body plan. The income of next-generation-sequencing approaches has allowed identifying over a million of sequences with putative regulatory potential in the human genome. Characterizing their function and establishing gene-CREs maps is essential to decode the logic governing developmental gene expression and is one of the major challenges of the post-genomic era. Chromatin 3D organization plays an essential role in determining how CREs specifically contact their target genes while avoiding deleterious off-target interactions. Our understanding of these aspects has greatly advanced with the income of chromatin conformation capture techniques and fluorescence microscopy approaches to visualize the organization of DNA elements in the nucleus. Here we will summarize relevant aspects of how the interplay between CRE activity and chromatin 3D organization regulates developmental gene expression and how it relates to pathological conditions and the evolution of animal body plan.

DiffDomain enables identification of structurally reorganized topologically associating domains

Topologically associating domains (TADs) are critical structural units in three-dimensional genome organization of mammalian genome. Dynamic reorganizations of TADs between health and disease states are associated with essential genome functions. However, computational methods for identifying reorganized TADs are still in the early stages of development. Here, we present DiffDomain, an algorithm leveraging high-dimensional random matrix theory to identify structurally reorganized TADs using high-throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) contact maps. Method comparison using multiple real Hi-C datasets reveals that DiffDomain outperforms alternative methods for false positive rates, true positive rates, and identifying a new subtype of reorganized TADs. Applying DiffDomain to Hi-C data from different cell types and disease states demonstrates its biological relevance. Identified reorganized TADs are associated with structural variations and epigenomic changes such as changes in CTCF binding sites. By applying to a single-cell Hi-C data from mouse neuronal development, DiffDomain can identify reorganized TADs between cell types with reasonable reproducibility using pseudo-bulk Hi-C data from as few as 100 cells per condition. Moreover, DiffDomain reveals differential cell-to-population variability and heterogeneous cell-to-cell variability in TADs. Therefore, DiffDomain is a statistically sound method for better comparative analysis of TADs using both Hi-C and single-cell Hi-C data.

TAD evolutionary and functional characterization reveals diversity in mammalian TAD boundary properties and function

Topological associating domains (TADs) are self-interacting genomic units crucial for shaping gene regulation patterns. Despite their importance, the extent of their evolutionary conservation and its functional implications remain largely unknown. In this study, we generate Hi-C and ChIP-seq data and compare TAD organization across four primate and four rodent species and characterize the genetic and epigenetic properties of TAD boundaries in correspondence to their evolutionary conservation. We find 14% of all human TAD boundaries to be shared among all eight species (ultraconserved), while 15% are human-specific. Ultraconserved TAD boundaries have stronger insulation strength, CTCF binding, and enrichment of older retrotransposons compared to species-specific boundaries. CRISPR-Cas9 knockouts of an ultraconserved boundary in a mouse model lead to tissue-specific gene expression changes and morphological phenotypes. Deletion of a human-specific boundary near the autism-related AUTS2 gene results in the upregulation of this gene in neurons. Overall, our study provides pertinent TAD boundary evolutionary conservation annotations and showcases the functional importance of TAD evolution.

Hi-C sequencing unravels dynamic three-dimensional chromatin interactions in muntjac lineage: insights from chromosome fusions in Fea's muntjac genome

Eukaryotes have varying numbers and structures of characteristic chromosomes across lineages or species. The evolutionary trajectory of species may have been affected by spontaneous genome rearrangements. Chromosome fusion drastically alters karyotypes. However, the mechanisms and consequences of chromosome fusions, particularly in muntjac species, are poorly understood. Recent research-based advancements in three-dimensional (3D) genomics, particularly high-throughput chromatin conformation capture (Hi-C) sequencing, have allowed for the identification of chromosome fusions and provided mechanistic insights into three muntjac species: Muntiacus muntjak, M. reevesi, and M. crinifrons. This study aimed to uncover potential genome rearrangement patterns in the threatened species Fea's muntjac (Muntiacus feae), which have not been previously examined for such characteristics. Deep Hi-C sequencing (31.42 × coverage) was performed to reveal the 3D chromatin architecture of the Fea's muntjac genome. Patterns of repeated chromosome fusions that were potentially mediated by high-abundance transposable elements were identified. Comparative Hi-C maps demonstrated linkage homology between the sex chromosomes in Fea's muntjac and autosomes in M. reevesi, indicating that fusions may have played a crucial role in the evolution of the sex chromosomes of the lineage. The species-level dynamics of topologically associated domains (TADs) suggest that TAD organization could be altered by differential chromosome interactions owing to repeated chromosome fusions. However, research on the effect of TADs on muntjac genome evolution is insufficient. This study generated Hi-C data for the Fea's muntjac, providing a genomic resource for future investigations of the evolutionary patterns of chromatin conformation at the chromosomal level.

Functional genomics in Spiralia

Our understanding of the mechanisms that modulate gene expression in animals is strongly biased by studying a handful of model species that mainly belong to three groups: Insecta, Nematoda and Vertebrata. However, over half of the animal phyla belong to Spiralia, a morphologically and ecologically diverse animal clade with many species of economic and biomedical importance. Therefore, investigating genome regulation in this group is central to uncovering ancestral and derived features in genome functioning in animals, which can also be of significant societal impact. Here, we focus on five aspects of gene expression regulation to review our current knowledge of functional genomics in Spiralia. Although some fields, such as single-cell transcriptomics, are becoming more common, the study of chromatin accessibility, DNA methylation, histone post-translational modifications and genome architecture are still in their infancy. Recent efforts to generate chromosome-scale reference genome assemblies for greater species diversity and optimise state-of-the-art approaches for emerging spiralian research systems will address the existing knowledge gaps in functional genomics in this animal group.

Mapping robust multiscale communities in chromosome contact networks

To better understand DNA's 3D folding in cell nuclei, researchers developed chromosome capture methods such as Hi-C that measure the contact frequencies between all DNA segment pairs across the genome. As Hi-C data sets often are massive, it is common to use bioinformatics methods to group DNA segments into 3D regions with correlated contact patterns, such as Topologically associated domains and A/B compartments. Recently, another research direction emerged that treats the Hi-C data as a network of 3D contacts. In this representation, one can use community detection algorithms from complex network theory that group nodes into tightly connected mesoscale communities. However, because Hi-C networks are so densely connected, several node partitions may represent feasible solutions to the community detection problem but are indistinguishable unless including other data. Because this limitation is a fundamental property of the network, this problem persists regardless of the community-finding or data-clustering method. To help remedy this problem, we developed a method that charts the solution landscape of network partitions in Hi-C data from human cells. Our approach allows us to scan seamlessly through the scales of the network and determine regimes where we can expect reliable community structures. We find that some scales are more robust than others and that strong clusters may differ significantly. Our work highlights that finding a robust community structure hinges on thoughtful algorithm design or method cross-evaluation.

Three-dimensional genome rewiring in loci with human accelerated regions

Human accelerated regions (HARs) are conserved genomic loci that evolved at an accelerated rate in the human lineage and may underlie human-specific traits. We generated HARs and chimpanzee accelerated regions with an automated pipeline and an alignment of 241 mammalian genomes. Combining deep learning with chromatin capture experiments in human and chimpanzee neural progenitor cells, we discovered a significant enrichment of HARs in topologically associating domains containing human-specific genomic variants that change three-dimensional (3D) genome organization. Differential gene expression between humans and chimpanzees at these loci suggests rewiring of regulatory interactions between HARs and neurodevelopmental genes. Thus, comparative genomics together with models of 3D genome folding revealed enhancer hijacking as an explanation for the rapid evolution of HARs.

The diverging epigenomic landscapes of honeybee queens and workers revealed by multiomic sequencing

The role of the epigenome in phenotypic plasticity is unclear presently. Here we used a multiomics approach to explore the nature of the epigenome in developing honey bee (Apis mellifera) workers and queens. Our data clearly showed distinct queen and worker epigenomic landscapes during the developmental process. Differences in gene expression between workers and queens become more extensive and more layered during the process of development. Genes known to be important for caste differentiation were more likely to be regulated by multiple epigenomic systems than other differentially expressed genes. We confirmed the importance of two candidate genes for caste differentiation by using RNAi to manipulate the expression of two genes that differed in expression between workers and queens were regulated by multiple epigenomic systems. For both genes the RNAi manipulation resulted in a decrease in weight and fewer ovarioles of newly emerged queens compared to controls. Our data show that the distinct epigenomic landscapes of worker and queen bees differentiate during the course of larval development.

TAD Evolutionary and functional characterization reveals diversity in mammalian TAD boundary properties and function

Topological associating domains (TADs) are self-interacting genomic units crucial for shaping gene regulation patterns. Despite their importance, the extent of their evolutionary conservation and its functional implications remain largely unknown. In this study, we generate Hi-C and ChIP-seq data and compare TAD organization across four primate and four rodent species, and characterize the genetic and epigenetic properties of TAD boundaries in correspondence to their evolutionary conservation. We find that only 14% of all human TAD boundaries are shared among all eight species (ultraconserved), while 15% are human-specific. Ultraconserved TAD boundaries have stronger insulation strength, CTCF binding, and enrichment of older retrotransposons, compared to species-specific boundaries. CRISPR-Cas9 knockouts of two ultraconserved boundaries in mouse models leads to tissue-specific gene expression changes and morphological phenotypes. Deletion of a human-specific boundary near the autism-related AUTS2 gene results in upregulation of this gene in neurons. Overall, our study provides pertinent TAD boundary evolutionary conservation annotations, and showcase the functional importance of TAD evolution.

Defining the separation landscape of topological domains for decoding consensus domain organization of the 3D genome

Topologically associating domains (TADs) have emerged as basic structural and functional units of genome organization and have been determined by many computational methods from Hi-C contact maps. However, the TADs obtained by different methods vary greatly, which makes the accurate determination of TADs a challenging issue and hinders subsequent biological analyses about their organization and functions. Obvious inconsistencies among the TADs identified by different methods indeed make the statistical and biological properties of TADs overly depend on the chosen method rather than on the data. To this end, we use the consensus structural information captured by these methods to define the TAD separation landscape for decoding the consensus domain organization of the 3D genome. We show that the TAD separation landscape could be used to compare domain boundaries across multiple cell types for discovering conserved and divergent topological structures, decipher three types of boundary regions with diverse biological features, and identify consensus TADs (ConsTADs). We illustrate that these analyses could deepen our understanding of the relationships between the topological domains and chromatin states, gene expression, and DNA replication timing.

Evolution of 3D chromatin organization at different scales

Most animal genomes fold in 3D chromatin domains called topologically associated domains (TADs) that facilitate interactions between cis-regulatory elements (CREs) and promoters. Owing to their critical role in the control of developmental gene expression, we explore how TADs have shaped animal evolution. In the light of recent studies that profile TADs in disparate animal lineages, we discuss their phylogenetic distribution and the mechanisms that underlie their formation. We present evidence indicating that TADs are plastic entities composed of genomic strata of different ages: ancient cores are combined with newer regions and brought into extant TADs through genomic rearrangements. We highlight that newly incorporated TAD strata enable the establishment of new CRE-promoter interactions and in turn new expression patterns that can drive phenotypical innovation. We further highlight how subtle changes in chromatin folding may fine-tune the expression levels of developmental genes and hold a potential for evolutionary significance.

β-actin mediated H3K27ac changes demonstrate the link between compartment switching and enhancer-dependent transcriptional regulation

BACKGROUND

Recent work has demonstrated that three-dimensional genome organization is directly affected by changes in the levels of nuclear cytoskeletal proteins such as β-actin. The mechanisms which translate changes in 3D genome structure into changes in transcription, however, are not fully understood. Here, we use a comprehensive genomic analysis of cells lacking nuclear β-actin to investigate the mechanistic links between compartment organization, enhancer activity, and gene expression.

RESULTS

Using HiC-Seq, ATAC-Seq, and RNA-Seq, we first demonstrate that transcriptional and chromatin accessibility changes observed upon β-actin loss are highly enriched in compartment-switching regions. Accessibility changes within compartment switching genes, however, are mainly observed in non-promoter regions which potentially represent distal regulatory elements. Our results also show that β-actin loss induces widespread accumulation of the enhancer-specific epigenetic mark H3K27ac. Using the ABC model of enhancer annotation, we then establish that these epigenetic changes have a direct impact on enhancer activity and underlie transcriptional changes observed upon compartment switching. A complementary analysis of fibroblasts undergoing reprogramming into pluripotent stem cells further confirms that this relationship between compartment switching and enhancer-dependent transcriptional change is not specific to β-actin knockout cells but represents a general mechanism linking compartment-level genome organization to gene expression.

CONCLUSIONS

We demonstrate that enhancer-dependent transcriptional regulation plays a crucial role in driving gene expression changes observed upon compartment-switching. Our results also reveal a novel function of nuclear β-actin in regulating enhancer function by influencing H3K27 acetylation levels.

Diversity, duplication, and genomic organization of homeobox genes in Lepidoptera

Homeobox genes encode transcription factors with essential roles in patterning and cell fate in developing animal embryos. Many homeobox genes, including Hox and NK genes, are arranged in gene clusters, a feature likely related to transcriptional control. Sparse taxon sampling and fragmentary genome assemblies mean that little is known about the dynamics of homeobox gene evolution across Lepidoptera or about how changes in homeobox gene number and organization relate to diversity in this large order of insects. Here we analyze an extensive data set of high-quality genomes to characterize the number and organization of all homeobox genes in 123 species of Lepidoptera from 23 taxonomic families. We find most Lepidoptera have around 100 homeobox loci, including an unusual Hox gene cluster in which the lab gene is repositioned and the ro gene is next to pb A topologically associating domain spans much of the gene cluster, suggesting deep regulatory conservation of the Hox cluster arrangement in this insect order. Most Lepidoptera have four Shx genes, divergent zen-derived loci, but these loci underwent dramatic duplication in several lineages, with some moths having over 165 homeobox loci in the Hox gene cluster; this expansion is associated with local LINE element density. In contrast, the NK gene cluster content is more stable, although there are differences in organization compared with other insects, as well as major rearrangements within butterflies. Our analysis represents the first description of homeobox gene content across the order Lepidoptera, exemplifying the potential of newly generated genome assemblies for understanding genome and gene family evolution.

Folding Features and Dynamics of 3D Genome Architecture in Plant Fungal Pathogens

The folding and dynamics of three-dimensional (3D) genome organization are fundamental for eukaryotes executing genome functions but have been largely unexplored in nonmodel fungi. Using high-throughput sequencing coupled with chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) data, we generated two chromosome-level assemblies for Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, a fungus causing stripe rust disease on wheat, for studying 3D genome architectures of plant pathogenic fungi. The chromatin organization of the fungus followed a combination of the fractal globule model and the equilibrium globule model. Surprisingly, chromosome compartmentalization was not detected. Dynamics of 3D genome organization during two developmental stages of P. striiformis f. sp. tritici indicated that regulation of gene activities might be independent of the changes of genome organization. In addition, chromatin conformation conservation was found to be independent of genome sequence synteny conservation among different fungi. These results highlighted the distinct folding principles of fungal 3D genomes. Our findings should be an important step toward a holistic understanding of the principles and functions of genome architecture across different eukaryotic kingdoms. IMPORTANCE Previously, our understanding of 3D genome architecture has mainly come from model mammals, insects, and plants. However, the organization and regulatory functions of 3D genomes in fungi are largely unknown. In this study, we comprehensively investigated P. striiformis f. sp. tritici, a plant fungal pathogen, and revealed distinct features of the 3D genome, comparing it with the universal folding feature of 3D genomes in higher eukaryotic organisms. We further suggested that there might be distinct regulatory mechanisms of gene expression that are independent of chromatin organization changes during the developmental stages of this rust fungus. Moreover, we showed that the evolutionary pattern of 3D genomes in this fungus is also different from the cases in mammalian genomes. In addition, the genome assembly pipeline and the generated two chromosome-level genomes will be valuable resources. These results highlighted the unexplored distinct features of 3D genome organization in fungi. Therefore, our study provided complementary knowledge to holistically understand the organization and functions of 3D genomes across different eukaryotes.

Can changes in 3D genome architecture create new regulatory landscapes that contribute to phenotypic evolution?

Animal genomes are compartmentalized into insulated regulatory units named topology-associated domains (TADs). TADs insulate gene promoters from enhancers that occupy neighboring TADs. Chromosomal rearrangements that disrupt TAD structure can generate new regulatory interactions between enhancers and promoters that were once separated into different TADs, which might lead to new gene expression patterns. On the one hand, TAD rearrangements are known to cause deleterious phenotypes, but, on the other hand, rearrangements can also create novel expression patterns that may be selected during evolution because they generate advantageous phenotypes. Here, we review recent studies that explore the effects of chromosomal rearrangements and genetic perturbations on TAD structure and gene regulation in the context of development and evolution. We discuss the possible contribution of evolutionary breakpoints (EBRs) that affect TAD structure to the evolution of gene regulation and the phenotype.

Mode and Tempo of 3D Genome Evolution in Drosophila

Topologically associating domains (TADs) are thought to play an important role in preventing gene misexpression by spatially constraining enhancer-promoter contacts. The deleterious nature of gene misexpression implies that TADs should, therefore, be conserved among related species. Several early studies comparing chromosome conformation between species reported high levels of TAD conservation; however, more recent studies have questioned these results. Furthermore, recent work suggests that TAD reorganization is not associated with extensive changes in gene expression. Here, we investigate the evolutionary conservation of TADs among 11 species of Drosophila. We use Hi-C data to identify TADs in each species and employ a comparative phylogenetic approach to derive empirical estimates of the rate of TAD evolution. Surprisingly, we find that TADs evolve rapidly. However, we also find that the rate of evolution depends on the chromatin state of the TAD, with TADs enriched for developmentally regulated chromatin evolving significantly slower than TADs enriched for broadly expressed, active chromatin. We also find that, after controlling for differences in chromatin state, highly conserved TADs do not exhibit higher levels of gene expression constraint. These results suggest that, in general, most TADs evolve rapidly and their divergence is not associated with widespread changes in gene expression. However, higher levels of evolutionary conservation and gene expression constraints in TADs enriched for developmentally regulated chromatin suggest that these TAD subtypes may be more important for regulating gene expression, likely due to the larger number of long-distance enhancer-promoter contacts associated with developmental genes.

Domain Model of Eukaryotic Genome Organization: From DNA Loops Fixed on the Nuclear Matrix to TADs

The article reviews the development of ideas on the domain organization of eukaryotic genome, with special attention on the studies of DNA loops anchored to the nuclear matrix and their role in the emergence of the modern model of eukaryotic genome spatial organization. Critical analysis of results demonstrating that topologically associated chromatin domains are structural-functional blocks of the genome supports the notion that these blocks are fundamentally different from domains whose existence was proposed by the domain hypothesis of eukaryotic genome organization formulated in the 1980s. Based on the discussed evidence, it is concluded that the model postulating that eukaryotic genome is built from uniformly organized structural-functional blocks has proven to be untenable.

Three-Dimensional Genome Map of the Filamentous Fungus Penicillium oxalicum

Higher-order spatial organization of the chromatin in the nucleus plays crucial roles in the maintenance of cell functions and the regulation of gene expression. Three-dimensional (3D) genome sequencing has been used to great effect in mammal and plants, but the availability of 3D genomes of filamentous fungi is severely limited. Here, we performed a chromosome-level genome assembly of Penicillium oxalicum through single-molecule real-time sequencing (Pacific Biosciences) and chromatin interaction mapping (Hi-C), with a scaffold N50 of 4.07 Mb and a contig N50 of 3.81 Mb, and further elucidated the 3D genome architecture of P. oxalicum. High-frequency interchromosomal contacts occurred within the centromeres and telomeres, as well as within individual chromosomes. There were 12,203 cis-interactions and 7,884 trans-interactions detected at a resolution of 1 kb. Moreover, a total of 1,099 topologically associated domains (or globules) were found, ranging in size from 2.0 to 76.0 kb. Interestingly, transcription factor-bound motifs were enriched in the globule boundaries. All the cellulase and xylanase genes were discretely distributed in the 3D model of the P. oxalicum genome as a result of few cis- and trans-interactions. Our results from this study provide a global view of chromatin interactions in the P. oxalicum genome and will act as a resource for studying spatial regulation of gene expression in filamentous fungi. IMPORTANCE The spatial structure of chromatin plays important roles in normal cell functions and the regulation of gene expression. The three-dimensional (3D) architectures of the genomes of many mammals and plants have been elucidated, but corresponding studies on filamentous fungi, which play vital roles as decomposers of organic matter in the soil, are very limited. Penicillium oxalicum is one of the predominant cellulolytic aerobic fungi in subtropical and tropical forest soils and can secrete integrative cellulase and xylanase under integrated regulatory control, degrading plant biomass highly efficiently. In the present study, we employed Hi-C technology to construct the 3D genome model of P. oxalicum strain HP7-1 and to further investigate cellulase and xylanase as well as transcription factor genes in 3D genome. These results provide a resource to achieve a deeper understanding of cell function and the regulation of gene expression in filamentous fungi.

TCF-1 promotes chromatin interactions across topologically associating domains in T cell progenitors

The high mobility group (HMG) transcription factor TCF-1 is essential for early T cell development. Although in vitro biochemical assays suggest that HMG proteins can serve as architectural elements in the assembly of higher-order nuclear organization, the contribution of TCF-1 on the control of three-dimensional (3D) genome structures during T cell development remains unknown. Here, we investigated the role of TCF-1 in 3D genome reconfiguration. Using gain- and loss-of-function experiments, we discovered that the co-occupancy of TCF-1 and the architectural protein CTCF altered the structure of topologically associating domains in T cell progenitors, leading to interactions between previously insulated regulatory elements and target genes at late stages of T cell development. The TCF-1-dependent gain in long-range interactions was linked to deposition of active enhancer mark H3K27ac and recruitment of the cohesin-loading factor NIPBL at active enhancers. These data indicate that TCF-1 has a role in controlling global genome organization during T cell development.

Topologically associating domains are disrupted by evolutionary genome rearrangements forming species-specific enhancer connections in mice and humans

Distinguishing between conserved and divergent regulatory mechanisms is essential for translating preclinical research from mice to humans, yet there is a lack of information about how evolutionary genome rearrangements affect the regulation of the immune response, a rapidly evolving system. The current model is topologically associating domains (TADs) are conserved between species, buffering evolutionary rearrangements and conserving long-range interactions within a TAD. However, we find that TADs frequently span evolutionary translocation and inversion breakpoints near genes with species-specific expression in immune cells, creating unique enhancer-promoter interactions exclusive to the mouse or human genomes. This includes TADs encompassing immune-related transcription factors, cytokines, and receptors. For example, we uncover an evolutionary rearrangement that created a shared LPS-inducible regulatory module between OASL and P2RX7 in human macrophages that is absent in mice. Therefore, evolutionary genome rearrangements disrupt TAD boundaries, enabling sequence-conserved enhancer elements from divergent genomic locations between species to create unique regulatory modules.

It is currently unclear how evolutionary genome rearrangements affecting the mouse and human genomes influence the expression of genes important in immunity. Gilbertson et al. report that evolutionary genome rearrangements disrupt topologically associating domain boundaries, enabling sequence-conserved enhancer elements from divergent locations between species to create unique regulatory modules.

Conservation of chromatin conformation in carnivores

We found the three-dimensional (3D) structure of chromatin at the chromosome level to be highly conserved for more than 50 million y of carnivore evolution. Intrachromosomal contacts were maintained even after chromosome rearrangements within carnivore lineages, demonstrating that the maintenance of 3D chromatin architecture is essential for conserved genome functions. These discoveries enabled the identification of orthologous chromosomal DNA segments among related species, a method we call 3D comparative scaffotyping. The method has application for putative chromosome assignment of chromosome-scale DNA sequence scaffolds produced by de novo genome sequencing. Broadly applied to biodiversity genome sequencing efforts, the approach can reduce costs associated with karyotyping and the physical mapping of DNA segments to chromosomes.

High throughput chromatin conformation capture (Hi-C) of leukocyte DNA was used to investigate the evolutionary stability of chromatin conformation at the chromosomal level in 11 species from three carnivore families: Felidae, Canidae, and Ursidae. Chromosome-scale scaffolds (C-scaffolds) of each species were initially used for whole-genome alignment to a reference genome within each family. This approach established putative orthologous relationships between C-scaffolds among the different species. Hi-C contact maps for all C-scaffolds were then visually compared and found to be distinct for a given reference chromosome or C-scaffold within a species and indistinguishable for orthologous C-scaffolds having a 1:1 relationship within a family. The visual patterns within families were strongly supported by eigenvectors from the Hi-C contact maps. Analysis of Hi-C contact maps and eigenvectors across the three carnivore families revealed that most cross-family orthologous subchromosomal fragments have a conserved three-dimensional (3D) chromatin structure and thus have been under strong evolutionary constraint for ∼54 My of carnivore evolution. The most pronounced differences in chromatin conformation were observed for the X chromosome and the red fox genome, whose chromosomes have undergone extensive rearrangements relative to other canids. We also demonstrate that Hi-C contact map pattern analysis can be used to accurately identify orthologous relationships between C-scaffolds and chromosomes, a method we termed “3D comparative scaffotyping.” This method provides a powerful means for estimating karyotypes in de novo sequenced species that have unknown karyotype and no physical mapping information.

Mouse genomic and cellular annotations

Mice have emerged as one of the most popular and valuable model organisms in the research of human biology. This is due to their genetic and physiological similarity to humans, short generation times, availability of genetically homologous inbred strains, and relatively easy laboratory maintenance. Therefore, following the release of the initial human reference genome, the generation of the mouse reference genome was prioritised and represented an important scientific resource for the mouse genetics community. In 2002, the Mouse Genome Sequencing Consortium published an initial draft of the mouse reference genome which contained ~ 96% of the euchromatic genome of female C57BL/6 J mice. Almost two decades on from the publication of the initial draft, sequencing efforts have continued to increase the completeness and accuracy of the C57BL/6 J reference genome alongside advances in genome annotation. Additionally new sequencing technologies have provided a wealth of data that has added to the repertoire of annotations associated with traditional genomic annotations. Including but not limited to advances in regulatory elements, the 3D genome and individual cellular states. In this review we focus on the reference genome C57BL/6 J and summarise the different aspects of genomic and cellular annotations, as well as their relevance to mouse genetic research. We denote a genomic annotation as a functional unit of the genome. Cellular annotations are annotations of cell type or state, defined by the transcriptomic expression profile of a cell. Due to the wide-ranging number and diversity of annotations describing the mouse genome, we focus on gene, repeat and regulatory element annotation as well as two relatively new technologies; 3D genome architecture and single-cell sequencing outlining their utility in genetic research and their current challenges.

The Clock Takes Shape-24 h Dynamics in Genome Topology

Circadian rhythms orchestrate organismal physiology and behavior in order to anticipate daily changes in the environment. Virtually all cells have an internal rhythm that is synchronized every day by Zeitgebers (environmental cues). The synchrony between clocks within the animal enables the fitness and the health of organisms. Conversely, disruption of rhythms is linked to a variety of disorders: aging, cancer, metabolic diseases, and psychological disorders among others. At the cellular level, mammalian circadian rhythms are built on several layers of complexity. The transcriptional-translational feedback loop (TTFL) was the first to be described in the 90s. Thereafter oscillations in epigenetic marks highlighted the role of chromatin state in organizing the TTFL. More recently, studies on the 3D organization of the genome suggest that genome topology could be yet another layer of control on cellular circadian rhythms. The dynamic nature of genome topology over a solar day implies that the 3D mammalian genome has to be considered in the fourth dimension-in time. Whether oscillations in genome topology are a consequence of 24 h gene-expression or a driver of transcriptional cycles remains an open question. All said and done, circadian clock-gated phenomena such as gene expression, DNA damage response, cell metabolism and animal behavior-go hand in hand with 24 h rhythms in genome topology.

Major Reorganization of Chromosome Conformation During Muscle Development in Pig

The spatial organization of the genome in the nucleus plays a crucial role in eukaryotic cell functions, yet little is known about chromatin structure variations during late fetal development in mammals. We performed in situ high-throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) sequencing of DNA from muscle samples of pig fetuses at two late stages of gestation. Comparative analysis of the resulting Hi-C interaction matrices between both groups showed widespread differences of different types. First, we discovered a complex landscape of stable and group-specific Topologically Associating Domains (TADs). Investigating the nuclear partition of the chromatin into transcriptionally active and inactive compartments, we observed a genome-wide fragmentation of these compartments between 90 and 110 days of gestation. Also, we identified and characterized the distribution of differential cis- and trans-pairwise interactions. In particular, trans-interactions at chromosome extremities revealed a mechanism of telomere clustering further confirmed by 3D Fluorescence in situ Hybridization (FISH). Altogether, we report major variations of the three-dimensional genome conformation during muscle development in pig, involving several levels of chromatin remodeling and structural regulation.

Chromosomal neighbourhoods allow identification of organ specific changes in gene expression

Although most genes share their chromosomal neighbourhood with other genes, distribution of genes has not been explored in the context of individual organ development; the common focus of developmental biology studies. Because developmental processes are often associated with initially subtle changes in gene expression, here we explored whether neighbouring genes are informative in the identification of differentially expressed genes. First, we quantified the chromosomal neighbourhood patterns of genes having related functional roles in the mammalian genome. Although the majority of protein coding genes have at least five neighbours within 1 Mb window around each gene, very few of these neighbours regulate development of the same organ. Analyses of transcriptomes of developing mouse molar teeth revealed that whereas expression of genes regulating tooth development changes, their neighbouring genes show no marked changes, irrespective of their level of expression. Finally, we test whether inclusion of gene neighbourhood in the analyses of differential expression could provide additional benefits. For the analyses, we developed an algorithm, called DELocal that identifies differentially expressed genes by comparing their expression changes to changes in adjacent genes in their chromosomal regions. Our results show that DELocal removes detection bias towards large changes in expression, thereby allowing identification of even subtle changes in development. Future studies, including the detection of differential expression, may benefit from, and further characterize the significance of gene-gene neighbour relationships.

Development of organs is typically associated with small and hard to detect changes in gene expression. Here we examined how often genes regulating specific organs are neighbours to each other in the genome, and whether this gene neighbourhood helps in the detection of changes in gene expression. We found that genes regulating individual organ development are very rarely close to each other in the mouse and human genomes. We built an algorithm, called DELocal, to detect changes in gene expression that incorporates information about neighbouring genes. Using transcriptomes of developing mouse molar teeth containing gene expression profiles of thousands of genes, we show how genes regulating tooth development are ranked high by DELocal even if their expression level changes are subtle. We propose that developmental biology studies can benefit from gene neighbourhood analyses in the detection of differential expression and identification of organ specific genes.

Chromatin Conformation in Development and Disease

Chromatin domains and loops are important elements of chromatin structure and dynamics, but much remains to be learned about their exact biological role and nature. Topological associated domains and functional loops are key to gene expression and hold the answer to many questions regarding developmental decisions and diseases. Here, we discuss new findings, which have linked chromatin conformation with development, differentiation and diseases and hypothesized on various models while integrating all recent findings on how chromatin architecture affects gene expression during development, evolution and disease.

Advances in higher-order chromatin architecture: the move towards 4D genome

In eukaryotes, the genome is hierarchically packed inside the nucleus, which facilitates physical contact between cis-regulatory elements (CREs), such as enhancers and promoters. Accumulating evidence highlights the critical role of higher-order chromatin structure in precise regulation of spatiotemporal gene expression under diverse biological contexts including lineage commitment and cell activation by external stimulus. Genomics and imaging-based technologies, such as Hi-C and DNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), have revealed the key principles of genome folding, while newly developed tools focus on improvement in resolution, throughput and modality at single-cell and population levels, and challenge the knowledge obtained through conventional approaches. In this review, we discuss recent advances in our understanding of principles of higher-order chromosome conformation and technologies to investigate 4D chromatin interactions.

Immune Regulation in Time and Space: The Role of Local- and Long-Range Genomic Interactions in Regulating Immune Responses

Mammals face and overcome an onslaught of endogenous and exogenous challenges in order to survive. Typical immune cells and barrier cells, such as epithelia, must respond rapidly and effectively to encountered pathogens and aberrant cells to prevent invasion and eliminate pathogenic species before they become overgrown and cause harm. On the other hand, inappropriate initiation and failed termination of immune cell effector function in the absence of pathogens or aberrant tissue gives rise to a number of chronic, auto-immune, and neoplastic diseases. Therefore, the fine control of immune effector functions to provide for a rapid, robust response to challenge is essential. Importantly, immune cells are heterogeneous due to various factors relating to cytokine exposure and cell-cell interaction. For instance, tissue-resident macrophages and T cells are phenotypically, transcriptionally, and functionally distinct from their circulating counterparts. Indeed, even the same cell types in the same environment show distinct transcription patterns at the single cell level due to cellular noise, despite being robust in concert. Additionally, immune cells must remain quiescent in a naive state to avoid autoimmunity or chronic inflammatory states but must respond robustly upon activation regardless of their microenvironment or cellular noise. In recent years, accruing evidence from next-generation sequencing, chromatin capture techniques, and high-resolution imaging has shown that local- and long-range genome architecture plays an important role in coordinating rapid and robust transcriptional responses. Here, we discuss the local- and long-range genome architecture of immune cells and the resultant changes upon pathogen or antigen exposure. Furthermore, we argue that genome structures contribute functionally to rapid and robust responses under noisy and distinct cellular environments and propose a model to explain this phenomenon.

Epigenetics and Heart Development

Epigenetic control of gene expression during cardiac development and disease has been a topic of intense research in recent years. Advances in experimental methods to study DNA accessibility, transcription factor occupancy, and chromatin conformation capture technologies have helped identify regions of chromatin structure that play a role in regulating access of transcription factors to the promoter elements of genes, thereby modulating expression. These chromatin structures facilitate enhancer contacts across large genomic distances and function to insulate genes from cis-regulatory elements that lie outside the boundaries for the gene of interest. Changes in transcription factor occupancy due to changes in chromatin accessibility have been implicated in congenital heart disease. However, the factors controlling this process and their role in changing gene expression during development or disease remain unclear. In this review, we focus on recent advances in the understanding of epigenetic factors controlling cardiac morphogenesis and their role in diseases.

Charting the genomic landscape of seed-free plants

During the past few years several high-quality genomes has been published from Charophyte algae, bryophytes, lycophytes and ferns. These genomes have not only elucidated the origin and evolution of early land plants, but have also provided important insights into the biology of the seed-free lineages. However, critical gaps across the phylogeny remain and many new questions have been raised through comparing seed-free and seed plant genomes. Here, we review the reference genomes available and identify those that are missing in the seed-free lineages. We compare patterns of various levels of genome and epigenomic organization found in seed-free plants to those of seed plants. Some genomic features appear to be fundamentally different. For instance, hornworts, Selaginella and most liverworts are devoid of whole-genome duplication, in stark contrast to other land plants. In addition, the distribution of genes and repeats appear to be less structured in seed-free genomes than in other plants, and the levels of gene body methylation appear to be much lower. Finally, we highlight the currently available (or needed) model systems, which are crucial to further our understanding about how changes in genes translate into evolutionary novelties.

Topologically associating domain boundaries that are stable across diverse cell types are evolutionarily constrained and enriched for heritability

Topologically associating domains (TADs) are fundamental units of three-dimensional (3D) nuclear organization. The regions bordering TADs-TAD boundaries-contribute to the regulation of gene expression by restricting interactions of cis-regulatory sequences to their target genes. TAD and TAD-boundary disruption have been implicated in rare-disease pathogenesis; however, we have a limited framework for integrating TADs and their variation across cell types into the interpretation of common-trait-associated variants. Here, we investigate an attribute of 3D genome architecture-the stability of TAD boundaries across cell types-and demonstrate its relevance to understanding how genetic variation in TADs contributes to complex disease. By synthesizing TAD maps across 37 diverse cell types with 41 genome-wide association studies (GWASs), we investigate the differences in disease association and evolutionary pressure on variation in TADs versus TAD boundaries. We demonstrate that genetic variation in TAD boundaries contributes more to complex-trait heritability, especially for immunologic, hematologic, and metabolic traits. We also show that TAD boundaries are more evolutionarily constrained than TADs. Next, stratifying boundaries by their stability across cell types, we find substantial variation. Compared to boundaries unique to a specific cell type, boundaries stable across cell types are further enriched for complex-trait heritability, evolutionary constraint, CTCF binding, and housekeeping genes. Thus, considering TAD boundary stability across cell types provides valuable context for understanding the genome's functional landscape and enabling variant interpretation that takes 3D structure into account.