SGER: Evolutionary Relationship of Gene Structure and Function.

这项探索性研究的小额资助的目标是使用家谱方法来确定担子菌真菌Coprinus cinereus新交配型基因功能进化过程中的关键氨基酸取代。以前，DNA序列和家谱分析被用来描述单个交配型基因bl的等位基因进化历史。bl基因位于复杂的a交配型位点。研究人员对相关物种的基因进行了检查，并进行了额外的分析，以确定可能对新交配类型功能的进化起重要作用的氨基酸替换。这些推论正在通过对bl等位基因进行定点突变和测试交配类型的变化来进行检验。如果成功，该方法将提供一种新的方法来分析和获取序列数据集的功能信息，并提供对交配型基因进化的更好理解。

The goal of this Small Grant for Exploratory research is to use genealogical approaches to identify critical amino acid substitutions during the evolution of new mating type gene function in the basidiomycete fungus Coprinus cinereus. Previously, DNA sequence and genealogical analyses were used to describe the evolutionary history of alleles at a single mating type gene, bl. The bl gene lies within the complex A mating type locus. An examination of the genes in related species and additional analyses were used to identify amino acid substitutions that may have been important for the evolution of new mating type function. Those inferences are being tested by making site-directed mutations in alleles of bl and testing for changes in mating type. If successful, thias approach will provide a new method of analyzing and obtaining functional information from sequence data sets as well as providing a greater understanding of the evolution of mating type genes.