Analysing the dynamics of gene regulatory adaptation in fission yeast

Max Reuter (primary)
Genetics, Evolution and Environment
University College London
Jürg Bähler (secondary)
Genetics, Evolution and Environment
University College London

Abstract

Genome regulation is key to organisms’ capacity to buffer environmental fluctuations by expressing plastic changes to their phenotypes. Although fundamental to the genotype-phenotype map, many aspects of gene regulation and its evolution remain poorly understood. This project will fill some of the gaps. We will employ a tightly controlled experimental system in fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe to study the dynamics of regulatory evolution. The research will allow us to better understand how adaptive trajectories of regulatory mechanisms depend on the interplay between selection pressures, mutational input, the topology of existing regulatory networks, and the patterns of environmental fluctuations.


References

Lopez-Maury et al. (2008) Tuning gene expression to changing environments: from rapid responses to evolutionary adaptation. Nature Reviews Genetics 9:583-593.
Proulx & Smiley (2010) The Evolutionary Origins of Gene Regulation. Journal of Experimental Zoology B 314:327-340.
Chevin et al. (2010) Adaptation, Plasticity, and Extinction in a Changing Environment: Towards a Predictive Theory. PLoS Biology 8:e1000357.
DeWitt & Scheiner, eds. Phenotypic Plasticity. 2004, Oxford University Press.
Poelwijk et al. (2011) Tradeoffs and optimality in the evolution of gene regulation. Cell 146:462-70.
Yi and Dean (2016) Phenotypic plasticity as an adaptation to a functional trade-off. eLife 5:e19307.
Reuter et al. (2017) Evolving Plastic Responses to External and Genetic Environments. Trends in Genetics 33:169-170.
Duveau et al. (2017) Effects of mutation and selection on plasticity of a promoter activity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. PNAS 114:E11218-E11227.


BBSRC Area
Genes, development and STEM* approaches to biology
Area of Biology
EvolutionGenetics
Techniques & Approaches
BioinformaticsGeneticsMathematics / StatisticsMolecular BiologySimulation / Modelling