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Updated: May 10, 2026

In Vivo Monitoring of Transcriptional Activity During Metabolic Transition Using a Bioluminescent Reporter in Yeast
Published on: February 21, 2025
Evolutionary principles of modular gene regulation in yeasts
Dawn A Thompson1, Sushmita Roy, Michelle Chan
1Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard , Cambridge , United States.
Abstract:
Divergence in gene regulation can play a major role in evolution. Here, we used a phylogenetic framework to measure mRNA profiles in 15 yeast species from the phylum Ascomycota and reconstruct the evolution of their modular regulatory programs along a time course of growth on glucose over 300 million years [corrected]. We found that modules have diverged proportionally to phylogenetic distance, with prominent changes in gene regulation accompanying changes in lifestyle and ploidy, especially in carbon metabolism. Paralogs have significantly contributed to regulatory divergence, typically within a very short window from their duplication. Paralogs from a whole genome duplication (WGD) event have a uniquely substantial contribution that extends over a longer span. Similar patterns occur when considering the evolution of the heat shock regulatory program measured in eight of the species, suggesting that these are general evolutionary principles. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.00603.001.
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