Genome-wide approaches to the study of adaptive gene expression evolution: systematic studies of evolutionary adaptations involving gene expression will allow many fundamental questions in evolutionary biology to be addressed

Hunter B Fraser

doi:10.1002/bies.201000094

Genome-wide approaches to the study of adaptive gene expression evolution: systematic studies of evolutionary adaptations involving gene expression will allow many fundamental questions in evolutionary biology to be addressed

Bioessays. 2011 Jun;33(6):469-77. doi: 10.1002/bies.201000094. Epub 2011 Apr 28.

Author

Hunter B Fraser¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA. hbfraser@stanford.edu

PMID: 21538412
DOI: 10.1002/bies.201000094

Abstract

The role of gene expression in evolutionary adaptation has been a subject of debate for over 40 years. cis-regulation of transcription has been proposed to be the primary source of morphological novelty in evolution, though this is based on only a handful of examples. Recently the first genome-wide studies of gene expression adaptation have been published, giving us an initial global view of this process. Systematic studies such as these will allow a number of key questions currently facing the field of gene expression evolution to be addressed.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Adaptation, Biological*
Animals
Biological Evolution*
Epistasis, Genetic
Gene Expression Regulation*
Gene Regulatory Networks
Genome-Wide Association Study*
Humans
Models, Genetic
Mutation
Selection, Genetic