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SUMMARY:Gene expression divergence in mammalian speciation - Angela Filimo
 n Goncalves
DTSTART:20140522T121000Z
DTEND:20140522T130000Z
UID:TALK51596@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Ayan Bhowmik
DESCRIPTION:Much of the variation in traits between closely related organi
 sms is due to changes in gene expression\, making the identification of th
 e underlying genetic changes responsible for the gene expression changes a
  key goal of molecular biology. Gene expression levels are thought to dive
 rge due to genetic variants that affect regulatory DNA\, frequently in the
  vicinity of the gene and hence known as acting in cis\, or due to more di
 stal genetic variants that affect diffusible factors which in turn regulat
 e the gene\, known as acting in trans. \n\nIn this talk I will describe th
 e work I have done with collaborators to assess which mode of regulation\,
  in cis or in trans\, is prevalent in mammalian speciation. In our work we
  measured gene expression divergence between two closely related mouse str
 ains and in their progeny and identified many genes with divergent express
 ion. Of these\, a small minority could be attributed purely to variants ac
 ting in trans\, while 43% were attributable only to variants acting in cis
 . The remaining genes with divergent patterns of expression were regulated
  by a combination of variants acting in cis and variants acting in trans. 
 Intriguingly\, the changes in expression induced by the cis and trans vari
 ants were in opposite directions more frequently than expected by chance\,
  implying that compensatory regulation to stabilise gene expression levels
  is widespread. We propose that expression levels of genes regulated by th
 is mechanism are fine-tuned by cis variants that arise following regulator
 y changes in trans\, suggesting that many cis variants are not the primary
  targets of natural selection.
LOCATION:1 Newnham Terrace\, Darwin College
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