What is the link between ultraconserved elements and three-dimensional mammalian genome organization?
Ultraconserved elements (UCEs) occupy specific arenas of three-dimensional mammalian genome organization. UCEs are enriched within contact domains and, further, that the subset of UCEs within domains shared across diverse cell types are linked to kidney-related and neuronal processes. In boundaries, UCEs are generally depleted, with those that do overlap boundaries being overrepresented in exonic UCEs. Regarding loop anchors, UCEs are neither overrepresented nor underrepresented, but those present in loop anchors are enriched for splice sites. As the relationships between UCEs and human Hi-C features are conserved in mouse, UCEs contribute to interspecies conservation of genome organization and, thus, genome stability.