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SUMMARY:Decoding evolution and development: from gene-regulatory structure
  to function - Justin Crocker\, EMBL
DTSTART:20200129T130000Z
DTEND:20200129T140000Z
UID:TALK137743@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Toby Andrews
DESCRIPTION:Gene regulatory evolution provides a significant source of mat
 erial for phenotypical change. However\, there is only a limited understan
 ding of what paths are possible for regulatory evolution\, as most evidenc
 e is limited to either standing variation or biased perturbations of trans
 criptional enhancers. Using a synthetic mutation library for a development
 al enhancer in Drosophila melanogaster\, and an automated robotics pipelin
 e\, we show that most nucleotide mutations in a minimal enhancer cause cha
 nges in gene expression. These changes include transcription levels\, prob
 ability\, timing\, and spatial patterns. We demonstrate that this pipeline
  can be used to identify novel transcription factor binding sites. Based o
 n these sites\, we present evidence for transcriptional cooperativity that
  makes the enhancer sensitive to nucleotide polymorphisms. We find that se
 ts of mutations often simultaneously change levels and locations of expres
 sion. Together\, our results suggest that the parameters of gene expressio
 n are not independent variables but rather convolved within an enhancer\, 
 and this codependency can constrain the evolvability of developmental enha
 ncers.
LOCATION:Part II Lecture Theatre\, Department of Zoology
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