Homology and diversity in animal genomes Center for Developmental Biology

Home > Seminars and Events > Homology and diversity in animal genomes

Category	Seminar
Date and Time	2016-11-30 14:00 - 15:00
Venue	Auditorium C1F
Speaker	Peter W. H. Holland
Affiliation	Department of Zoology, University of Oxford
Title	Homology and diversity in animal genomes
Poster	click here to download(PDF)
Host	Shigehiro Kuraku
Summary	A major challenge for the 21st century is to understand how evolution at the genomic level translates to evolution at the phenotype level. This question is an extension of developmental biology, but adds in the great complexity of evolutionary change. It has been suggested that change to cis-regulatory DNA is the predominant type of mutation responsible for phenotypic change, but although this hypothesis has been widely repeated it has not been tested. First, we need to understand the relative importance of gaining new genes vs. re-using old genes. Using comparative genomics across the animal kingdom, I will show that the evolution of new genes is a common feature of animal evolution. Second, we wish to understand the relative contributions of cis-regulatory change and protein sequence change. Drawing on genomic data from oysters and desert rodents, I will also discuss unusual protein sequence change related to phenotypic evolution. These examples challenge the dogma of how genomic change links to phenotypic change.