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Updated: Nov 27, 2025

A Bioinformatics Pipeline for Investigating Molecular Evolution and Gene Expression using RNA-seq

A Bioinformatics Pipeline for Investigating Molecular Evolution and Gene Expression using RNA-seq

Published on: May 28, 2021

Molecular and evolutionary processes generating variation in gene expression.

Mark S Hill¹, Pétra Vande Zande², Patricia J Wittkopp^3,4

¹Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.

Nature Reviews. Genetics

|December 3, 2020

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Heritable gene expression variation arises from mutations affecting gene regulatory networks. Evolutionary processes shape this variation, offering insights into its origins and future evolution.

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Published on: November 3, 2010

Area of Science:

Evolutionary biology
Molecular biology
Genetics

Background:

Heritable variation in gene expression is prevalent across species.
Mutations altering gene regulatory networks are a primary source of this variation.
Natural selection acts on these molecular changes.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the molecular mechanisms generating regulatory variation.
To differentiate the roles of neutral and non-neutral evolutionary processes.
To understand the origins and predict the future evolution of gene expression variation.

Main Methods:

Utilizing high-throughput methods for mutation introduction.
Characterizing cis- and trans-regulatory effects on gene expression (transcription).
Comparing experimental mutational effects with naturally occurring variation.

Main Results:

Revealing diverse molecular mechanisms that generate regulatory variation.
Distinguishing contributions of neutral and non-neutral evolutionary forces.
Integrating molecular and evolutionary data to explain current variation.

Conclusions:

Gene expression variation is shaped by both mutation and selection.
Understanding molecular mechanisms is key to evolutionary insights.
Predictive models for future gene expression evolution can be developed.