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SUMMARY:The human genome as an RNA machine - Prof John Mattick\, Institute
  for Molecular Bioscience\, University of Queensland\, Australia
DTSTART:20080314T200000Z
DTEND:20080314T213000Z
UID:TALK9706@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Keith Macaulay
DESCRIPTION:In association with "Trinity College Science Society":http://w
 ww.trin.cam.ac.uk/tcss\n\nIt is now evident that the majority of the genom
 es of all animals\, from nematodes to mammals\, is transcribed\, apparentl
 y in a developmentally regulated manner. I will present evidence from anal
 ysis of over 500 sequenced genomes that the number of regulatory genes in 
 prokaryotes scales quadratically with genome size\, and that prokaryotes h
 ave reached the limit of the capacity of a solely protein-based regulatory
  architecture probably early in evolution. This also implies that the comp
 lex eukaryotes have breached this limit\, most likely by the cooption of R
 NA as a quasi-digital regulatory system that directs the trajectories of d
 ifferentiation and development\, and that the emergence of this system was
  the critical precondition for the emergence of complex organisms. I will 
 also discuss the questionable assumptions that underlie the current view t
 hat only ~5% of the human genome is under selection\, and present an alter
 native view that the much if not most of the genome is functional and comp
 rised of different types of sequences\, mainly regulatory sequences\, that
  are evolving at different rates under different structure-function constr
 aints and different selection pressures. I will show that there is dynamic
  expression of thousands of ncRNAs during the differentiation of embryonic
  stem cells\, neuronal cells\, muscle\, gonadal ridge and immune cells\, a
 nd that a large number of ncRNAs are expressed in the brain\, many in prec
 ise locations in the cortex\, hippocampus\, olfactory bulb\, cerebellum an
 d other places\, the majority of which (where there is sufficient resoluti
 on to judge) are trafficked to specific subcellular compartments. Finally 
 I will discuss the role of RNA signaling in the formation of epigenetic me
 mory\, and the role of RNA editing in the evolution of higher order cognit
 ion.
LOCATION:Winstanley Lecture Theatre\, Trinity College
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