Gene expression is an inherently stochastic process 1 , 2 ; however, organismal development and homeostasis require cells to coordinate the spatiotemporal expression of large sets of genes. In metazoans, pairs of co-expressed genes often reside in the same chromosomal neighbourhood, with gene pairs representing 10 to 50% of all genes, depending on the species 3 – 6 . Because shared upstream regulators can ensure correlated gene expression, the selective advantage of maintaining adjacent gene pairs remains unknown 6 . Here, using two linked zebrafish segmentation clock genes, her1 and her7 , and combining single-cell transcript counting, genetic engineering, real-time imaging and computational modelling, we show that gene pairing boosts correlated transcription and provides phenotypic robustness for the formation of developmental patterns. Our results demonstrate that the prevention of gene pairing disrupts oscillations and segmentation, and the linkage of her1 and her7 is essential for the development of the body axis in zebrafish embryos. We predict that gene pairing may be similarly advantageous in other organisms, and our findings could lead to the engineering of precise synthetic clocks in embryos and organoids. The pairing of genes is essential for robust expression of segmentation clock genes during development in zebrafish embryos.

中文翻译：

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分割时钟基因的配对驱动稳健的模式形成

基因表达是一个固有的随机过程 1、2；然而，组织发展和体内平衡需要细胞协调大量基因的时空表达。在后生动物中，共同表达的基因对通常位于同一染色体邻域中，基因对占所有基因的 10% 到 50%，具体取决于物种 3-6。由于共享的上游调节因子可以确保相关基因表达，因此维持相邻基因对的选择性优势仍然未知6。在这里，使用两个链接的斑马鱼分割时钟基因 her1 和 her7，并结合单细胞转录本计数、基因工程、实时成像和计算建模，我们表明基因配对促进了相关转录，并为发育的形成提供了表型稳健性。模式。我们的结果表明，防止基因配对会破坏振荡和分割，并且 her1 和 her7 的联系对于斑马鱼胚胎体轴的发育至关重要。我们预测基因配对在其他生物体中可能具有类似的优势，我们的发现可能会导致在胚胎和类器官中设计精确的合成时钟。基因配对对于斑马鱼胚胎发育过程中分割时钟基因的稳健表达至关重要。我们的发现可能导致在胚胎和类器官中设计精确的合成时钟。基因配对对于斑马鱼胚胎发育过程中分割时钟基因的稳健表达至关重要。我们的发现可能导致在胚胎和类器官中设计精确的合成时钟。基因配对对于斑马鱼胚胎发育过程中分割时钟基因的稳健表达至关重要。