A Bioinformatics Framework to Understand the Fate of Duplicated Genes in Evolution

了解进化中重复基因命运的生物信息学框架

• 批准号: 578495-2022
• 负责人: Lafond, ManuelM
• 金额: $ 1.82万
• 依托单位: Université de Sherbrooke
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Alliance Grants
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=757273
• 关键词: Bioinformatics; Framework; Understand; Fate; Duplicated

During the course of evolution, species undergo genomic mutations that allow them to gain distinct traits and biological functions. Gene duplication is one such event and is largely responsible for today's biodiversity. When a gene is duplicated, it creates a redundant copy that is free to evolve and develop new functions. However, not all genes go through this fate, as some copies may share the same function as their originator or become non-functional. Understanding the mechanisms and fates of duplicated genes is therefore crucial to gain knowledge on how biological functions are gained and lost. The main objective of this international collaboration is to develop a computational framework to infer the fate of duplicated genes from genomic data. We will devise novel models and algorithms for this task and we will evaluate our framework on a realistic simulator of biological evolution, followed by applications on real data. This collaboration combines the expertise of Dr. Guillaume Beslon (ENS-Lyon) for the simulation of realistic evolution, and Dr. Manuel Lafond (U. de Sherbrooke) for the creation of efficient inference and analysis algorithms. This proposal will improve our fundamental understanding of evolution, which can have several practical applications in biology. For instance, this can help finding genes shared by human and animals for drug-testing, or predicting the evolution of viruses and tumors. Our research will also impact the computer science side of bioinformatics by improving current evolutionary models and providing more realistic simulations to software developers. Finally, this proposal will reinforce Canada's leadership position in comparative genomics.

在进化过程中，物种经历了基因组突变，使它们能够获得不同的特征和生物学功能。 基因复制就是这样的事件，主要是当今的生物多样性。 当基因复制时，它会创建一个冗余副本，该副本可以自由发展和开发新功能。 但是，并非所有基因都经历了这种命运，因为某些副本可能与其发起人具有相同的功能或变得非功能。 因此，了解重复基因的机制和命运对于获取生物学如何获得和丢失的知识至关重要。 这种国际合作的主要目的是开发一个计算框架，从基因组数据中推断出重复的基因的命运。 我们将为这项任务设计新颖的模型和算法，并将评估我们在生物进化的现实模拟器上的框架，然后在真实数据上进行应用。 这项合作结合了Guillaume Beslon博士（Ens-Lyon）的专业知识，以模拟现实演化，而Manuel Lafond博士（U. de Sherbrooke）为创建有效的推理和分析算法而言。 该提案将提高我们对进化的基本理解，这些理解可以在生物学上具有多种实际应用。 例如，这可以帮助寻找人类和动物共享药物测试的基因，或者预测病毒和肿瘤的演变。 我们的研究还将通过改善当前的进化模型并为软件开发人员提供更现实的模拟来影响生物信息学的计算机科学方面。 最后，该建议将加强加拿大在比较基因组学上的领导地位。