Sandra Gitto

The paper shows that the regulatory landscape controlling Hoxd gene expression in limbs was co-opted from an ancestral cloacal program in tetrapods.

The paper uses in-cis mutations to study CTCF site functions in the mouse HoxD cluster, showing their roles in insulation, enhancer-promoter interactions, and TAD border formation.

The paper compares Hoxd gene regulation in mammalian vibrissae and avian feather primordia with trunk elongation in mice and chickens, showing lineage-specific enhancer usage and functional divergence in conserved CREs.

The paper identifies HOX13-mediated regulation of DBX2 in limb development and shows enhancers can cross TAD boundaries to regulate genes in different domains.

The paper investigates how chromatin topology affects the timing of enhancer function at the HoxD locus, finding that enhancer sequences can overcome adverse chromatin architecture to activate genes.