报告题目：New Gene Origination: Mechanism, Pattern and Function

报告人：Yong E. Zhang，Department of Ecology and Evolution, the University of Chicago，Department of Molecular Genetics and Cellular Biology, the University of Chicago

时间：2011年4月25日14:00

地点：1号楼B210会议室

联系人：焦雨铃

 

Lineage-specific new genes have been postulated to contribute to genome evolution. We identified hundreds of new genes in Drosophila and mammals, which originated via various mechanisms including DNA-level duplication, RNA-level duplication (retroposition) and de novo origination. We then studied whether new gene origination shows non-random patterns with respect to chromosomal linkage, origination timing, and function. We found three novel patterns with profound implications for both evolutionary biology and developmental biology. First, in both Drosophila and mammals, we observed an enrichment of young male-biased genes on the X chromosome contrasting to a deficit of X-linked old male-biased genes. It suggests that the interaction of various evolutionary forces have shaped the chromosomal distribution of male-biased genes on different evolutionary time scales. Second, our large-scale RNAi experiments in Drosophila showed that a similar proportion of new genes are essential for viability as old genes. However, compared to old genes, lethality was significantly higher in the pupal stage when new genes were knocked down. Such results reveal that new genes frequently and rapidly evolve essential functions and participate in the core part of a developmental network. Third, we found that a significantly larger proportion of young genes are expressed in the fetal brain of humans than in mouse, revealing a critical new genetic component contributing to the evolution of the human brain. In summary, our in-depth analysis of gene origination has significantly impacted the understanding of three important problems in biological research.

 

References

1. Y. E. Zhang, M. D. Vibranovski, P. Landback, G. A. B. Marais, M. Long, PLoS Biol. 8, e1000494 (2010).

2. Y. E. Zhang, M. D. Vibranovski, B. H. Krinsky, M. Long, Genome Res. 20, 1526 (2010).

3. S. Chen, Y. E. Zhang, M. Long, Science 330, 1682 (2010). (Highlighted in Nature Rev. Genet. Of February 2011)

 

Biography

Yong E. Zhang completed his Ph.D in Bioinformatics at Peking University. He moved to the University of Chicago as a postdoctoral scholar working on evolutionary genetics. Since 2009, he has been jointly employed by multiple labs in Chicagoland as a staff bioinformatitian. His main research interest is the evolution and function of lineage-specific new genes.