Fig. 1: Comparative three-dimensional genome analysis reveals evolutionary divergence in chromatin topology between humans and non-human primates.

a Overview of the study design. B-lymphoblastoid cells from humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and macaques, as well as neuronal cells from humans and macaques (left), were used to detect CTCF- and RNAPII-mediated chromatin interactions (middle). The chromatin architectures of these species were compared to identify evolutionary divergence in chromatin topology (right). The million years ago (MYA) values are derived from established phylogenetic data to illustrate the evolutionary relationships between the species analyzed. Representative track views and chromatin contact maps illustrating CTCF- and RNAPII-mediated chromatin interactions in B-lymphoblastoid cells (b) and neuronal cells (c) from humans and non-human primates within identical syntenic genomic regions. Track views display the profiles of CTCF peaks and loops, as well as H3K27ac peaks and RNAPII loops for each respective species. Human reference genes and CTCF sites are shown at the top of the panel. The synteny track denotes the syntenic genomic regions between humans (blue) and each corresponding non-human primate (orange). In loop tracks, loop intensities are indicated by color gradients. The maximum intensity in each peak track is given on the left. Coordinates for syntenic genomic regions are provided. Genome-wide comparison of CTCF loops across species in B-lymphoblastoid cells (d) and neuronal cells (e). Pearson correlation coefficients (r) are provided.