The Nuanced Evolutionary Consequences of Duplicated Genes

甚至在实验生物学家描述基因的分子结构之前，基因复制就已经被认为是生物进化的重要驱动力。达尔文自然选择的早期支持者知道，性状是通过一系列指令代代相传的，但后来人们认识到，随着生物体适应它们的环境，改变这种遗传物质的可能性将越来越有限。环境随着时间的推移。这样，自然选择首先被认为是内在保守的。将适应的潜力从保守的桎梏中解放出来，被认为是基因复制。基因复制是染色体上DNA序列的完全或部分复制，之后每个基因分别进化形成旁系同源物。然而，基因复制如何催化物种形成等多方面的进化过程仍然不清楚，特别是考虑到有多少旁系同源基因在漫长的进化时间尺度上彼此保持冗余。因此，为了理解基因复制在复杂进化事件中的作用，重要的是首先使用强大的分子遗传学技术来理解旁系同源基因之间的关系。迄今为止，我的工作描述了线虫（Caelophabditis elegans）中一个大型发育基因家族成员之间的冗余关系，表明重复基因的命运比以前提出的更复杂，由于令人惊讶的专业化模式，经常表现出复杂和意想不到的冗余关系。基于从这项工作中获得的见解，我希望继续阐明基因复制动力学及其对生物进化的影响。

Even before experimental biologists had characterised the molecular architecture ofgenes, gene duplication had already been proposed as an important driver for organismal evolution.Early proponents of Darwinian natural selection knew that traits were passed down throughgenerations via a set of instructions, but it was subsequently appreciated that the possibility ofmaking changes to this hereditary material would become increasingly limited as organisms becameadapted to their environment over time. In this way, natural selection was considered first andforemost to be inherently conservative. Freeing the potential for adaptation from the shackles ofconservation is to be thought to be gene duplication. A gene duplication is the complete or partialcopying of a DNA sequence on a chromosome, after which each gene evolves separately to formparalogues. However, it is still not known how gene duplications catalyse multifaceted evolutionaryprocesses such as speciation, especially in light of how many paralogous genes maintain redundancywith one another over long evolutionary timescales. Thus, in order to appreciate the role of geneduplications in complex evolutionary events, it is important to first understand the relationshipsbetween paralogous genes using robust molecular genetic techniques. My work thus far incharacterising the redundancy relationships between members of a large developmental gene familyin the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, has shown that the fates of duplicated genes are morenuanced than previously proposed, often exhibiting complex and unexpected redundancyrelationships due to surprising patterns of specialisation. Building on the insights gained from thiswork, I hope to continue to illuminate gene duplication dynamics and their impact on organismalevolution.