molecular evolution

Evolution has generated enormous morphological diversity in animals and one of the genetic processes that might have contributed to this is evolution of the cis-regulatory sequences responsible for the temporal and spatial expression of genes regulating embryonic development. This could be particularly relevant to pleiotropic genes with multiple independently acting regulatory modules.

Loss or gain of modules enables altered expression without loss of other functions. Studies correlates differences in morphological traits between related species of Drosophila to changes in cis-regulatory sequences.

Ancestral regulatory modules have evolved to mediate different transcriptional outputs and suggest that evolution of cis-regulatory sequences might reflect a general mechanism driving evolutionary change.

Articles

 DNA tests find a world of variety, The Times, February 19, 2007

References

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