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Genetic properties influencing the evolvability of gene expression
Christian R Landry1, Bernardo Lemos, Scott A Rifkin
1Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. clandry@post.harvard.edu
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|May 26, 2007
Summary
Gene expression sensitivity to mutations is influenced by gene structure and TATA box presence. This sensitivity impacts evolvability and response to environmental changes, crucial for understanding regulatory evolution.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Molecular genetics
- Systems biology
Background:
- Understanding gene network evolution is key.
- Natural variation alone is insufficient to infer evolutionary modes due to complex interactions with selection, demography, and mutation rates.
Purpose of the Study:
- To estimate the impact of naturally occurring mutations on gene expression.
- To minimize the influence of natural selection in these estimations.
- To establish a mechanistic basis for gene expression evolvability.
Main Methods:
- Estimation of naturally occurring mutation effects on gene expression.
- Minimization of natural selection's influence during mutation effect estimation.
Main Results:
- Gene expression sensitivity to mutations increases with trans-mutational target size.
- The presence of a TATA box enhances gene expression sensitivity to mutations.
- Genes more sensitive to mutations also exhibit higher sensitivity to environmental perturbations and stochastic noise.
Conclusions:
- Gene expression sensitivity to mutations is mechanistically linked to gene structure (TATA box) and size (trans-mutational target).
- This sensitivity is a predictor of a gene's response to environmental factors and noise.
- Findings provide a foundation for developing realistic models of regulatory evolution and gene network evolution.
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