[CSBi-events] CSBi Seminar Series: Rescheduled seminar to be November 9, 2007

[CSBi events]

SAVE THE DATE!!!!!

Reminder !  Fall 2007 Seminar Series on Computational and Systems Biology!

Friday, November 9,2007; 3:00- 4:00 PM, Rm. 4-370
Dr. Aviv Regev
Department of Biology/The Broad Institute/MIT

Title:  Natural History and Evolutionary Principles of Gene Duplication 
in Fungi

Abstract:
Gene duplication and loss is a powerful source of functional innovation. 
However, the general principles that govern this process are still 
largely unknown. With the growing number of sequenced genomes, it is now 
possible to examine these events in a comprehensive and unbiased manner. 
Here, we develop a procedure that resolves the evolutionary history of 
all genes in a large group of species. We apply our procedure to 
seventeen fungal genomes to create a genome-wide catalogue of gene trees 
that determine precise orthology and paralogy relations across these 
species. We show that gene duplication and loss is highly constrained by 
the functional properties and interacting partners of genes. In 
particular, stress-related genes exhibit many duplications and losses, 
whereas growth-related genes show selection against such changes. 
Whole-genome duplication circumvents this constraint and relaxes the 
dichotomy, resulting in an expanded functional scope of gene 
duplication. By characterizing the functional fate of duplicate genes we 
show that duplicated genes rarely diverge with respect to biochemical 
function, but typically diverge with respect to regulatory control. 
Surprisingly, paralogous modules of genes rarely arise, even after 
whole-genome duplication. Rather, gene duplication may drive the 
modularization of functional networks through specialization, thereby 
disentangling cellular systems.

Light refreshments to be served at 2:45 p.m.

Host:  Dr. Alexander van Oudenaarden
Department of Physics