Mapping Association between Long-Range Cis-Regulatory Regions and Their Target Genes Using Comparative Genomics

In chordates, long-range

cis

-regulatory regions are involved in the control of transcription initiation (either as repressors or enhancers). They can be located as far as 1 Mb from the transcription start site of the target gene and can regulate more than one gene. Therefore, proper characterization of functional interactions between long-range

cis

-regulatory regions and their target genes remains problematic. We present a novel method to predict such interactions based on the analysis of rearrangements between the human and 16 other vertebrate genomes. Our method is based on the assumption that genome rearrangements that would disrupt the functional interaction between a

cis

-regulatory region and its target gene are likely to be deleterious. Therefore, conservation of synteny through evolution would be an indication of a functional interaction. We use our algorithm to classify a set of 1,406,084 putative associations from the human genome. This genome-wide map of interactions has many potential applications, including the selection of candidate regions prior to

in vivo

experimental characterization, a better characterization of regulatory regions involved in position effect diseases, and an improved understanding of the mechanisms and importance of long-range regulation.