The functional and evolutionary impacts of human-specific deletions in conserved elements. Xue, J. R., Mackay-Smith, A., Mouri, K., Garcia, M. F., Dong, M. X., Akers, J. F., Noble, M., Li, X., Zoonomia Consortium†, Lindblad-Toh, K., Karlsson, E. K., Noonan, J. P., Capellini, T. D., Brennand, K. J., Tewhey, R., Sabeti, P. C., Reilly, S. K., Andrews, G., Armstrong, J. C., Bianchi, M., Birren, B. W., Bredemeyer, K. R., Breit, A. M., Christmas, M. J., Clawson, H., Damas, J., Di Palma, F., Diekhans, M., Dong, M. X., Eizirik, E., Fan, K., Fanter, C., Foley, N. M., Forsberg-Nilsson, K., Garcia, C. J., Gatesy, J., Gazal, S., Genereux, D. P., Goodman, L., Grimshaw, J., Halsey, M. K., Harris, A. J., Hickey, G., Hiller, M., Hindle, A. G., Hubley, R. M., Hughes, G. M., Johnson, J., Juan, D., Kaplow, I. M., Karlsson, E. K., Keough, K. C., Kirilenko, B., Koepfli, K., Korstian, J. M., Kowalczyk, A., Kozyrev, S. V., Lawler, A. J., Lawless, C., Lehmann, T., Levesque, D. L., Lewin, H. A., Li, X., Lind, A., Lindblad-Toh, K., Mackay-Smith, A., Marinescu, V. D., Marques-Bonet, T., Mason, V. C., Meadows, J. R. S., Meyer, W. K., Moore, J. E., Moreira, L. R., Moreno-Santillan, D. D., Morrill, K. M., Muntané, G., Murphy, W. J., Navarro, A., Nweeia, M., Ortmann, S., Osmanski, A., Paten, B., Paulat, N. S., Pfenning, A. R., Phan, B. N., Pollard, K. S., Pratt, H. E., Ray, D. A., Reilly, S. K., Rosen, J. R., Ruf, I., Ryan, L., Ryder, O. A., Sabeti, P. C., Schäffer, D. E., Serres, A., Shapiro, B., Smit, A. F. A., Springer, M., Srinivasan, C., Steiner, C., Storer, J. M., Sullivan, K. A. M., Sullivan, P. F., Sundström, E., Supple, M. A., Swofford, R., Talbot, J., Teeling, E., Turner-Maier, J., Valenzuela, A., Wagner, F., Wallerman, O., Wang, C., Wang, J., Weng, Z., Wilder, A. P., Wirthlin, M. E., Xue, J. R., & Zhang, X. Science, 380(6643):eabn2253, April, 2023. Paper doi abstract bibtex Conserved genomic sequences disrupted in humans may underlie uniquely human phenotypic traits. We identified and characterized 10,032 human-specific conserved deletions (hCONDELs). These short (average 2.56 base pairs) deletions are enriched for human brain functions across genetic, epigenomic, and transcriptomic datasets. Using massively parallel reporter assays in six cell types, we discovered 800 hCONDELs conferring significant differences in regulatory activity, half of which enhance rather than disrupt regulatory function. We highlight several hCONDELs with putative human-specific effects on brain development, including HDAC5 , CPEB4 , and PPP2CA . Reverting an hCONDEL to the ancestral sequence alters the expression of LOXL2 and developmental genes involved in myelination and synaptic function. Our data provide a rich resource to investigate the evolutionary mechanisms driving new traits in humans and other species. , INTRODUCTION Deciphering the molecular and genetic changes that differentiate humans from our closest primate relatives is critical for understanding our origins. Although earlier studies have prioritized how newly gained genetic sequences or variations have contributed to evolutionary innovation, the role of sequence loss has been less appreciated. Alterations in evolutionary conserved regions that are enriched for biological function could be particularly more likely to have phenotypic effects. We thus sought to identify and characterize sequences that have been conserved across evolution, but are then surprisingly lost in all humans. These human-specific deletions in conserved regions (hCONDELs) may play an important role in uniquely human traits. RATIONALE Sequencing advancements have identified millions of genetic changes between chimpanzee and human genomes; however, the functional impacts of the ~1 to 5% difference between our species is largely unknown. hCONDELs are one class of these predominantly noncoding sequence changes. Although large hCONDELs (\textgreater1 kb) have been previously identified, the vast majority of all hCONDELs (95.7%) are small (\textless20 base pairs) and have not yet been functionally assessed. We adapted massively parallel reporter assays (MPRAs) to characterize the effects of thousands of these small hCONDELs and uncovered hundreds with functional effects. By understanding the effects of these hCONDELs, we can gain insight into the mechanistic patterns driving evolution in the human genome. RESULTS We identified 10,032 hCONDELs by examining conserved regions across diverse vertebrate genomes and overlapping with confidently annotated, human-specific fixed deletions. We found that these hCONDELs are enriched to delete conserved sequences originating from stem amniotes. Overlap with transcriptional, epigenomic, and phenotypic datasets all implicate neuronal and cognitive functional impacts. We characterized these hCONDELs using MPRA in six different human cell types, including induced pluripotent stem cell–derived neural progenitor cells. We found that 800 hCONDELs displayed species-specific regulatory effect effects. Although many hCONDELs perturb transcription factor–binding sites in active enhancers, we estimate that 30% create or improve binding sites, including activators and repressors. Some hCONDELs exhibit molecular functions that affect core neurodevelopmental genes. One hCONDEL removes a single base in an active enhancer in the neurogenesis gene HDAC5 , and another deletes six bases in an alternative promoter of PPP2CA , a gene that regulates neuronal signaling. We deeply characterized an hCONDEL in a putative regulatory element of LOXL2 , a gene that controls neuronal differentiation. Using genome engineering to reintroduce the conserved chimpanzee sequence into human cells, we confirmed that the human deletion alters transcriptional output of LOXL2 . Single-cell RNA sequencing of these cells uncovered a cascade of myelination and synaptic function–related transcriptional changes induced by the hCONDEL. CONCLUSION Our identification of hundreds of hCONDELs with functional impacts reveals new molecular changes that may have shaped our unique biological lineage. These hCONDELs display predicted functions in a variety of biological systems but are especially enriched for function in neuronal tissue. Many hCONDELs induced gains of regulatory activity, a surprising discovery given that deletions of conserved bases are commonly thought to abrogate function. Our work provides a paradigm for the characterization of nucleotide changes shaping species-specific biology across humans or other animals. Human-specific deletions that remove nucleotides from regions highly conserved in other animals (hCONDELs). We assessed 10,032 hCONDELs across diverse, biologically relevant datasets and identified tissue-specific enrichment (top left). The regulatory impact of hCONDELs was characterized by comparing chimp and human sequences in MPRAs (bottom left). The ability of hCONDELs to either improve or perturb activating and repressing gene-regulatory elements was assessed (top right). The deleted chimpanzee sequence was reintroduced back into human cells, causing a cascade of transcriptional differences for an hCONDEL regulating LOXL2 (bottom right).
@article{xue_functional_2023,
title = {The functional and evolutionary impacts of human-specific deletions in conserved elements},
volume = {380},
issn = {0036-8075, 1095-9203},
url = {https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn2253},
doi = {10.1126/science.abn2253},
abstract = {Conserved genomic sequences disrupted in humans may underlie uniquely human phenotypic traits. We identified and characterized 10,032 human-specific conserved deletions (hCONDELs). These short (average 2.56 base pairs) deletions are enriched for human brain functions across genetic, epigenomic, and transcriptomic datasets. Using massively parallel reporter assays in six cell types, we discovered 800 hCONDELs conferring significant differences in regulatory activity, half of which enhance rather than disrupt regulatory function. We highlight several hCONDELs with putative human-specific effects on brain development, including
HDAC5
,
CPEB4
, and
PPP2CA
. Reverting an hCONDEL to the ancestral sequence alters the expression of
LOXL2
and developmental genes involved in myelination and synaptic function. Our data provide a rich resource to investigate the evolutionary mechanisms driving new traits in humans and other species.
,
INTRODUCTION
Deciphering the molecular and genetic changes that differentiate humans from our closest primate relatives is critical for understanding our origins. Although earlier studies have prioritized how newly gained genetic sequences or variations have contributed to evolutionary innovation, the role of sequence loss has been less appreciated. Alterations in evolutionary conserved regions that are enriched for biological function could be particularly more likely to have phenotypic effects. We thus sought to identify and characterize sequences that have been conserved across evolution, but are then surprisingly lost in all humans. These human-specific deletions in conserved regions (hCONDELs) may play an important role in uniquely human traits.
RATIONALE
Sequencing advancements have identified millions of genetic changes between chimpanzee and human genomes; however, the functional impacts of the {\textasciitilde}1 to 5\% difference between our species is largely unknown. hCONDELs are one class of these predominantly noncoding sequence changes. Although large hCONDELs ({\textgreater}1 kb) have been previously identified, the vast majority of all hCONDELs (95.7\%) are small ({\textless}20 base pairs) and have not yet been functionally assessed. We adapted massively parallel reporter assays (MPRAs) to characterize the effects of thousands of these small hCONDELs and uncovered hundreds with functional effects. By understanding the effects of these hCONDELs, we can gain insight into the mechanistic patterns driving evolution in the human genome.
RESULTS
We identified 10,032 hCONDELs by examining conserved regions across diverse vertebrate genomes and overlapping with confidently annotated, human-specific fixed deletions. We found that these hCONDELs are enriched to delete conserved sequences originating from stem amniotes. Overlap with transcriptional, epigenomic, and phenotypic datasets all implicate neuronal and cognitive functional impacts. We characterized these hCONDELs using MPRA in six different human cell types, including induced pluripotent stem cell–derived neural progenitor cells. We found that 800 hCONDELs displayed species-specific regulatory effect effects. Although many hCONDELs perturb transcription factor–binding sites in active enhancers, we estimate that 30\% create or improve binding sites, including activators and repressors.
Some hCONDELs exhibit molecular functions that affect core neurodevelopmental genes. One hCONDEL removes a single base in an active enhancer in the neurogenesis gene
HDAC5
, and another deletes six bases in an alternative promoter of
PPP2CA
, a gene that regulates neuronal signaling. We deeply characterized an hCONDEL in a putative regulatory element of
LOXL2
, a gene that controls neuronal differentiation. Using genome engineering to reintroduce the conserved chimpanzee sequence into human cells, we confirmed that the human deletion alters transcriptional output of
LOXL2
. Single-cell RNA sequencing of these cells uncovered a cascade of myelination and synaptic function–related transcriptional changes induced by the hCONDEL.
CONCLUSION
Our identification of hundreds of hCONDELs with functional impacts reveals new molecular changes that may have shaped our unique biological lineage. These hCONDELs display predicted functions in a variety of biological systems but are especially enriched for function in neuronal tissue. Many hCONDELs induced gains of regulatory activity, a surprising discovery given that deletions of conserved bases are commonly thought to abrogate function. Our work provides a paradigm for the characterization of nucleotide changes shaping species-specific biology across humans or other animals.
Human-specific deletions that remove nucleotides from regions highly conserved in other animals (hCONDELs).
We assessed 10,032 hCONDELs across diverse, biologically relevant datasets and identified tissue-specific enrichment (top left). The regulatory impact of hCONDELs was characterized by comparing chimp and human sequences in MPRAs (bottom left). The ability of hCONDELs to either improve or perturb activating and repressing gene-regulatory elements was assessed (top right). The deleted chimpanzee sequence was reintroduced back into human cells, causing a cascade of transcriptional differences for an hCONDEL regulating
LOXL2
(bottom right).},
language = {en},
number = {6643},
urldate = {2023-04-28},
journal = {Science},
author = {Xue, James R. and Mackay-Smith, Ava and Mouri, Kousuke and Garcia, Meilin Fernandez and Dong, Michael X. and Akers, Jared F. and Noble, Mark and Li, Xue and {Zoonomia Consortium†} and Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin and Karlsson, Elinor K. and Noonan, James P. and Capellini, Terence D. and Brennand, Kristen J. and Tewhey, Ryan and Sabeti, Pardis C. and Reilly, Steven K. and Andrews, Gregory and Armstrong, Joel C. and Bianchi, Matteo and Birren, Bruce W. and Bredemeyer, Kevin R. and Breit, Ana M. and Christmas, Matthew J. and Clawson, Hiram and Damas, Joana and Di Palma, Federica and Diekhans, Mark and Dong, Michael X. and Eizirik, Eduardo and Fan, Kaili and Fanter, Cornelia and Foley, Nicole M. and Forsberg-Nilsson, Karin and Garcia, Carlos J. and Gatesy, John and Gazal, Steven and Genereux, Diane P. and Goodman, Linda and Grimshaw, Jenna and Halsey, Michaela K. and Harris, Andrew J. and Hickey, Glenn and Hiller, Michael and Hindle, Allyson G. and Hubley, Robert M. and Hughes, Graham M. and Johnson, Jeremy and Juan, David and Kaplow, Irene M. and Karlsson, Elinor K. and Keough, Kathleen C. and Kirilenko, Bogdan and Koepfli, Klaus-Peter and Korstian, Jennifer M. and Kowalczyk, Amanda and Kozyrev, Sergey V. and Lawler, Alyssa J. and Lawless, Colleen and Lehmann, Thomas and Levesque, Danielle L. and Lewin, Harris A. and Li, Xue and Lind, Abigail and Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin and Mackay-Smith, Ava and Marinescu, Voichita D. and Marques-Bonet, Tomas and Mason, Victor C. and Meadows, Jennifer R. S. and Meyer, Wynn K. and Moore, Jill E. and Moreira, Lucas R. and Moreno-Santillan, Diana D. and Morrill, Kathleen M. and Muntané, Gerard and Murphy, William J. and Navarro, Arcadi and Nweeia, Martin and Ortmann, Sylvia and Osmanski, Austin and Paten, Benedict and Paulat, Nicole S. and Pfenning, Andreas R. and Phan, BaDoi N. and Pollard, Katherine S. and Pratt, Henry E. and Ray, David A. and Reilly, Steven K. and Rosen, Jeb R. and Ruf, Irina and Ryan, Louise and Ryder, Oliver A. and Sabeti, Pardis C. and Schäffer, Daniel E. and Serres, Aitor and Shapiro, Beth and Smit, Arian F. A. and Springer, Mark and Srinivasan, Chaitanya and Steiner, Cynthia and Storer, Jessica M. and Sullivan, Kevin A. M. and Sullivan, Patrick F. and Sundström, Elisabeth and Supple, Megan A. and Swofford, Ross and Talbot, Joy-El and Teeling, Emma and Turner-Maier, Jason and Valenzuela, Alejandro and Wagner, Franziska and Wallerman, Ola and Wang, Chao and Wang, Juehan and Weng, Zhiping and Wilder, Aryn P. and Wirthlin, Morgan E. and Xue, James R. and Zhang, Xiaomeng},
month = apr,
year = {2023},
keywords = {Zoonomia},
pages = {eabn2253},
}
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{"_id":"6vkQpzaRRSbinkdGz","bibbaseid":"xue-mackaysmith-mouri-garcia-dong-akers-noble-li-etal-thefunctionalandevolutionaryimpactsofhumanspecificdeletionsinconservedelements-2023","author_short":["Xue, J. R.","Mackay-Smith, A.","Mouri, K.","Garcia, M. F.","Dong, M. X.","Akers, J. F.","Noble, M.","Li, X.","Zoonomia Consortium†","Lindblad-Toh, K.","Karlsson, E. K.","Noonan, J. P.","Capellini, T. D.","Brennand, K. J.","Tewhey, R.","Sabeti, P. C.","Reilly, S. K.","Andrews, G.","Armstrong, J. C.","Bianchi, M.","Birren, B. W.","Bredemeyer, K. R.","Breit, A. M.","Christmas, M. J.","Clawson, H.","Damas, J.","Di Palma, F.","Diekhans, M.","Dong, M. X.","Eizirik, E.","Fan, K.","Fanter, C.","Foley, N. M.","Forsberg-Nilsson, K.","Garcia, C. J.","Gatesy, J.","Gazal, S.","Genereux, D. P.","Goodman, L.","Grimshaw, J.","Halsey, M. K.","Harris, A. J.","Hickey, G.","Hiller, M.","Hindle, A. G.","Hubley, R. M.","Hughes, G. M.","Johnson, J.","Juan, D.","Kaplow, I. M.","Karlsson, E. K.","Keough, K. C.","Kirilenko, B.","Koepfli, K.","Korstian, J. M.","Kowalczyk, A.","Kozyrev, S. V.","Lawler, A. J.","Lawless, C.","Lehmann, T.","Levesque, D. L.","Lewin, H. A.","Li, X.","Lind, A.","Lindblad-Toh, K.","Mackay-Smith, A.","Marinescu, V. D.","Marques-Bonet, T.","Mason, V. C.","Meadows, J. R. S.","Meyer, W. K.","Moore, J. E.","Moreira, L. R.","Moreno-Santillan, D. D.","Morrill, K. M.","Muntané, G.","Murphy, W. J.","Navarro, A.","Nweeia, M.","Ortmann, S.","Osmanski, A.","Paten, B.","Paulat, N. S.","Pfenning, A. R.","Phan, B. N.","Pollard, K. S.","Pratt, H. E.","Ray, D. A.","Reilly, S. K.","Rosen, J. R.","Ruf, I.","Ryan, L.","Ryder, O. A.","Sabeti, P. C.","Schäffer, D. E.","Serres, A.","Shapiro, B.","Smit, A. F. A.","Springer, M.","Srinivasan, C.","Steiner, C.","Storer, J. M.","Sullivan, K. A. M.","Sullivan, P. F.","Sundström, E.","Supple, M. A.","Swofford, R.","Talbot, J.","Teeling, E.","Turner-Maier, J.","Valenzuela, A.","Wagner, F.","Wallerman, O.","Wang, C.","Wang, J.","Weng, Z.","Wilder, A. P.","Wirthlin, M. E.","Xue, J. R.","Zhang, X."],"bibdata":{"bibtype":"article","type":"article","title":"The functional and evolutionary impacts of human-specific deletions in conserved elements","volume":"380","issn":"0036-8075, 1095-9203","url":"https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn2253","doi":"10.1126/science.abn2253","abstract":"Conserved genomic sequences disrupted in humans may underlie uniquely human phenotypic traits. We identified and characterized 10,032 human-specific conserved deletions (hCONDELs). These short (average 2.56 base pairs) deletions are enriched for human brain functions across genetic, epigenomic, and transcriptomic datasets. Using massively parallel reporter assays in six cell types, we discovered 800 hCONDELs conferring significant differences in regulatory activity, half of which enhance rather than disrupt regulatory function. We highlight several hCONDELs with putative human-specific effects on brain development, including HDAC5 , CPEB4 , and PPP2CA . Reverting an hCONDEL to the ancestral sequence alters the expression of LOXL2 and developmental genes involved in myelination and synaptic function. Our data provide a rich resource to investigate the evolutionary mechanisms driving new traits in humans and other species. , INTRODUCTION Deciphering the molecular and genetic changes that differentiate humans from our closest primate relatives is critical for understanding our origins. Although earlier studies have prioritized how newly gained genetic sequences or variations have contributed to evolutionary innovation, the role of sequence loss has been less appreciated. Alterations in evolutionary conserved regions that are enriched for biological function could be particularly more likely to have phenotypic effects. We thus sought to identify and characterize sequences that have been conserved across evolution, but are then surprisingly lost in all humans. These human-specific deletions in conserved regions (hCONDELs) may play an important role in uniquely human traits. RATIONALE Sequencing advancements have identified millions of genetic changes between chimpanzee and human genomes; however, the functional impacts of the ~1 to 5% difference between our species is largely unknown. hCONDELs are one class of these predominantly noncoding sequence changes. Although large hCONDELs (\\textgreater1 kb) have been previously identified, the vast majority of all hCONDELs (95.7%) are small (\\textless20 base pairs) and have not yet been functionally assessed. We adapted massively parallel reporter assays (MPRAs) to characterize the effects of thousands of these small hCONDELs and uncovered hundreds with functional effects. By understanding the effects of these hCONDELs, we can gain insight into the mechanistic patterns driving evolution in the human genome. RESULTS We identified 10,032 hCONDELs by examining conserved regions across diverse vertebrate genomes and overlapping with confidently annotated, human-specific fixed deletions. We found that these hCONDELs are enriched to delete conserved sequences originating from stem amniotes. Overlap with transcriptional, epigenomic, and phenotypic datasets all implicate neuronal and cognitive functional impacts. We characterized these hCONDELs using MPRA in six different human cell types, including induced pluripotent stem cell–derived neural progenitor cells. We found that 800 hCONDELs displayed species-specific regulatory effect effects. Although many hCONDELs perturb transcription factor–binding sites in active enhancers, we estimate that 30% create or improve binding sites, including activators and repressors. Some hCONDELs exhibit molecular functions that affect core neurodevelopmental genes. One hCONDEL removes a single base in an active enhancer in the neurogenesis gene HDAC5 , and another deletes six bases in an alternative promoter of PPP2CA , a gene that regulates neuronal signaling. We deeply characterized an hCONDEL in a putative regulatory element of LOXL2 , a gene that controls neuronal differentiation. Using genome engineering to reintroduce the conserved chimpanzee sequence into human cells, we confirmed that the human deletion alters transcriptional output of LOXL2 . Single-cell RNA sequencing of these cells uncovered a cascade of myelination and synaptic function–related transcriptional changes induced by the hCONDEL. CONCLUSION Our identification of hundreds of hCONDELs with functional impacts reveals new molecular changes that may have shaped our unique biological lineage. These hCONDELs display predicted functions in a variety of biological systems but are especially enriched for function in neuronal tissue. Many hCONDELs induced gains of regulatory activity, a surprising discovery given that deletions of conserved bases are commonly thought to abrogate function. Our work provides a paradigm for the characterization of nucleotide changes shaping species-specific biology across humans or other animals. Human-specific deletions that remove nucleotides from regions highly conserved in other animals (hCONDELs). We assessed 10,032 hCONDELs across diverse, biologically relevant datasets and identified tissue-specific enrichment (top left). The regulatory impact of hCONDELs was characterized by comparing chimp and human sequences in MPRAs (bottom left). The ability of hCONDELs to either improve or perturb activating and repressing gene-regulatory elements was assessed (top right). The deleted chimpanzee sequence was reintroduced back into human cells, causing a cascade of transcriptional differences for an hCONDEL regulating LOXL2 (bottom right).","language":"en","number":"6643","urldate":"2023-04-28","journal":"Science","author":[{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Xue"],"firstnames":["James","R."],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Mackay-Smith"],"firstnames":["Ava"],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Mouri"],"firstnames":["Kousuke"],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Garcia"],"firstnames":["Meilin","Fernandez"],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Dong"],"firstnames":["Michael","X."],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Akers"],"firstnames":["Jared","F."],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Noble"],"firstnames":["Mark"],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Li"],"firstnames":["Xue"],"suffixes":[]},{"firstnames":[],"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Zoonomia 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= {The functional and evolutionary impacts of human-specific deletions in conserved elements},\n\tvolume = {380},\n\tissn = {0036-8075, 1095-9203},\n\turl = {https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn2253},\n\tdoi = {10.1126/science.abn2253},\n\tabstract = {Conserved genomic sequences disrupted in humans may underlie uniquely human phenotypic traits. We identified and characterized 10,032 human-specific conserved deletions (hCONDELs). These short (average 2.56 base pairs) deletions are enriched for human brain functions across genetic, epigenomic, and transcriptomic datasets. Using massively parallel reporter assays in six cell types, we discovered 800 hCONDELs conferring significant differences in regulatory activity, half of which enhance rather than disrupt regulatory function. We highlight several hCONDELs with putative human-specific effects on brain development, including\n HDAC5\n ,\n CPEB4\n , and\n PPP2CA\n . Reverting an hCONDEL to the ancestral sequence alters the expression of\n LOXL2\n and developmental genes involved in myelination and synaptic function. Our data provide a rich resource to investigate the evolutionary mechanisms driving new traits in humans and other species.\n \n , \n \n INTRODUCTION\n Deciphering the molecular and genetic changes that differentiate humans from our closest primate relatives is critical for understanding our origins. Although earlier studies have prioritized how newly gained genetic sequences or variations have contributed to evolutionary innovation, the role of sequence loss has been less appreciated. Alterations in evolutionary conserved regions that are enriched for biological function could be particularly more likely to have phenotypic effects. We thus sought to identify and characterize sequences that have been conserved across evolution, but are then surprisingly lost in all humans. These human-specific deletions in conserved regions (hCONDELs) may play an important role in uniquely human traits.\n \n \n RATIONALE\n Sequencing advancements have identified millions of genetic changes between chimpanzee and human genomes; however, the functional impacts of the {\\textasciitilde}1 to 5\\% difference between our species is largely unknown. hCONDELs are one class of these predominantly noncoding sequence changes. Although large hCONDELs ({\\textgreater}1 kb) have been previously identified, the vast majority of all hCONDELs (95.7\\%) are small ({\\textless}20 base pairs) and have not yet been functionally assessed. We adapted massively parallel reporter assays (MPRAs) to characterize the effects of thousands of these small hCONDELs and uncovered hundreds with functional effects. By understanding the effects of these hCONDELs, we can gain insight into the mechanistic patterns driving evolution in the human genome.\n \n \n RESULTS\n We identified 10,032 hCONDELs by examining conserved regions across diverse vertebrate genomes and overlapping with confidently annotated, human-specific fixed deletions. We found that these hCONDELs are enriched to delete conserved sequences originating from stem amniotes. Overlap with transcriptional, epigenomic, and phenotypic datasets all implicate neuronal and cognitive functional impacts. We characterized these hCONDELs using MPRA in six different human cell types, including induced pluripotent stem cell–derived neural progenitor cells. We found that 800 hCONDELs displayed species-specific regulatory effect effects. Although many hCONDELs perturb transcription factor–binding sites in active enhancers, we estimate that 30\\% create or improve binding sites, including activators and repressors.\n \n Some hCONDELs exhibit molecular functions that affect core neurodevelopmental genes. One hCONDEL removes a single base in an active enhancer in the neurogenesis gene\n HDAC5\n , and another deletes six bases in an alternative promoter of\n PPP2CA\n , a gene that regulates neuronal signaling. We deeply characterized an hCONDEL in a putative regulatory element of\n LOXL2\n , a gene that controls neuronal differentiation. Using genome engineering to reintroduce the conserved chimpanzee sequence into human cells, we confirmed that the human deletion alters transcriptional output of\n LOXL2\n . Single-cell RNA sequencing of these cells uncovered a cascade of myelination and synaptic function–related transcriptional changes induced by the hCONDEL.\n \n \n \n CONCLUSION\n Our identification of hundreds of hCONDELs with functional impacts reveals new molecular changes that may have shaped our unique biological lineage. These hCONDELs display predicted functions in a variety of biological systems but are especially enriched for function in neuronal tissue. Many hCONDELs induced gains of regulatory activity, a surprising discovery given that deletions of conserved bases are commonly thought to abrogate function. Our work provides a paradigm for the characterization of nucleotide changes shaping species-specific biology across humans or other animals.\n \n \n Human-specific deletions that remove nucleotides from regions highly conserved in other animals (hCONDELs).\n \n We assessed 10,032 hCONDELs across diverse, biologically relevant datasets and identified tissue-specific enrichment (top left). The regulatory impact of hCONDELs was characterized by comparing chimp and human sequences in MPRAs (bottom left). The ability of hCONDELs to either improve or perturb activating and repressing gene-regulatory elements was assessed (top right). The deleted chimpanzee sequence was reintroduced back into human cells, causing a cascade of transcriptional differences for an hCONDEL regulating\n LOXL2\n (bottom right).},\n\tlanguage = {en},\n\tnumber = {6643},\n\turldate = {2023-04-28},\n\tjournal = {Science},\n\tauthor = {Xue, James R. and Mackay-Smith, Ava and Mouri, Kousuke and Garcia, Meilin Fernandez and Dong, Michael X. and Akers, Jared F. and Noble, Mark and Li, Xue and {Zoonomia Consortium†} and Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin and Karlsson, Elinor K. and Noonan, James P. and Capellini, Terence D. and Brennand, Kristen J. and Tewhey, Ryan and Sabeti, Pardis C. and Reilly, Steven K. and Andrews, Gregory and Armstrong, Joel C. and Bianchi, Matteo and Birren, Bruce W. and Bredemeyer, Kevin R. and Breit, Ana M. and Christmas, Matthew J. and Clawson, Hiram and Damas, Joana and Di Palma, Federica and Diekhans, Mark and Dong, Michael X. and Eizirik, Eduardo and Fan, Kaili and Fanter, Cornelia and Foley, Nicole M. and Forsberg-Nilsson, Karin and Garcia, Carlos J. and Gatesy, John and Gazal, Steven and Genereux, Diane P. and Goodman, Linda and Grimshaw, Jenna and Halsey, Michaela K. and Harris, Andrew J. and Hickey, Glenn and Hiller, Michael and Hindle, Allyson G. and Hubley, Robert M. and Hughes, Graham M. and Johnson, Jeremy and Juan, David and Kaplow, Irene M. and Karlsson, Elinor K. and Keough, Kathleen C. and Kirilenko, Bogdan and Koepfli, Klaus-Peter and Korstian, Jennifer M. and Kowalczyk, Amanda and Kozyrev, Sergey V. and Lawler, Alyssa J. and Lawless, Colleen and Lehmann, Thomas and Levesque, Danielle L. and Lewin, Harris A. and Li, Xue and Lind, Abigail and Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin and Mackay-Smith, Ava and Marinescu, Voichita D. and Marques-Bonet, Tomas and Mason, Victor C. and Meadows, Jennifer R. S. and Meyer, Wynn K. and Moore, Jill E. and Moreira, Lucas R. and Moreno-Santillan, Diana D. and Morrill, Kathleen M. and Muntané, Gerard and Murphy, William J. and Navarro, Arcadi and Nweeia, Martin and Ortmann, Sylvia and Osmanski, Austin and Paten, Benedict and Paulat, Nicole S. and Pfenning, Andreas R. and Phan, BaDoi N. and Pollard, Katherine S. and Pratt, Henry E. and Ray, David A. and Reilly, Steven K. and Rosen, Jeb R. and Ruf, Irina and Ryan, Louise and Ryder, Oliver A. and Sabeti, Pardis C. and Schäffer, Daniel E. and Serres, Aitor and Shapiro, Beth and Smit, Arian F. A. and Springer, Mark and Srinivasan, Chaitanya and Steiner, Cynthia and Storer, Jessica M. and Sullivan, Kevin A. M. and Sullivan, Patrick F. and Sundström, Elisabeth and Supple, Megan A. and Swofford, Ross and Talbot, Joy-El and Teeling, Emma and Turner-Maier, Jason and Valenzuela, Alejandro and Wagner, Franziska and Wallerman, Ola and Wang, Chao and Wang, Juehan and Weng, Zhiping and Wilder, Aryn P. and Wirthlin, Morgan E. and Xue, James R. and Zhang, Xiaomeng},\n\tmonth = apr,\n\tyear = {2023},\n\tkeywords = {Zoonomia},\n\tpages = {eabn2253},\n}\n\n","author_short":["Xue, J. R.","Mackay-Smith, A.","Mouri, K.","Garcia, M. F.","Dong, M. X.","Akers, J. F.","Noble, M.","Li, X.","Zoonomia Consortium†","Lindblad-Toh, K.","Karlsson, E. K.","Noonan, J. P.","Capellini, T. D.","Brennand, K. J.","Tewhey, R.","Sabeti, P. C.","Reilly, S. K.","Andrews, G.","Armstrong, J. C.","Bianchi, M.","Birren, B. W.","Bredemeyer, K. R.","Breit, A. M.","Christmas, M. J.","Clawson, H.","Damas, J.","Di Palma, F.","Diekhans, M.","Dong, M. X.","Eizirik, E.","Fan, K.","Fanter, C.","Foley, N. M.","Forsberg-Nilsson, K.","Garcia, C. J.","Gatesy, J.","Gazal, S.","Genereux, D. P.","Goodman, L.","Grimshaw, J.","Halsey, M. K.","Harris, A. J.","Hickey, G.","Hiller, M.","Hindle, A. G.","Hubley, R. M.","Hughes, G. M.","Johnson, J.","Juan, D.","Kaplow, I. M.","Karlsson, E. K.","Keough, K. C.","Kirilenko, B.","Koepfli, K.","Korstian, J. M.","Kowalczyk, A.","Kozyrev, S. V.","Lawler, A. J.","Lawless, C.","Lehmann, T.","Levesque, D. L.","Lewin, H. A.","Li, X.","Lind, A.","Lindblad-Toh, K.","Mackay-Smith, A.","Marinescu, V. D.","Marques-Bonet, T.","Mason, V. C.","Meadows, J. R. S.","Meyer, W. K.","Moore, J. E.","Moreira, L. R.","Moreno-Santillan, D. D.","Morrill, K. M.","Muntané, G.","Murphy, W. J.","Navarro, A.","Nweeia, M.","Ortmann, S.","Osmanski, A.","Paten, B.","Paulat, N. S.","Pfenning, A. R.","Phan, B. N.","Pollard, K. S.","Pratt, H. E.","Ray, D. A.","Reilly, S. K.","Rosen, J. R.","Ruf, I.","Ryan, L.","Ryder, O. A.","Sabeti, P. C.","Schäffer, D. E.","Serres, A.","Shapiro, B.","Smit, A. F. A.","Springer, M.","Srinivasan, C.","Steiner, C.","Storer, J. M.","Sullivan, K. A. M.","Sullivan, P. F.","Sundström, E.","Supple, M. A.","Swofford, R.","Talbot, J.","Teeling, E.","Turner-Maier, J.","Valenzuela, A.","Wagner, F.","Wallerman, O.","Wang, C.","Wang, J.","Weng, Z.","Wilder, A. P.","Wirthlin, M. E.","Xue, J. 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