Deep conservation of the enhancer regulatory code in animals

Enhancer function, from sponges to humans Identifying the function of enhancers, DNA regions that help to regulate gene expression and evolve rapidly, has been difficult. This area of research has been hampered by the difficultly in identifying functional conservation. Wong et al. now show that despite low sequence conservation, enhancer function is strongly conserved through the animal kingdom (see the Perspective by Harmston). Transgenic expression of sponge enhancers in zebrafish and mice demonstrates that these sequences can drive cell type–specific gene expression across species. These results suggest an unexpectedly deep level of conservation of gene regulation across the animal kingdom maintained over the course of metazoan evolution. Science , this issue p. eaax8137 ; see also p. 657