Summary
- Major: Computer Science / Mathematics
- Faculty Mentor: Dr. David Alvarez-Ponce
- Research Topic: Effects of Gene Duplication on Tissue Expression Divergence
Abstract
Gene duplication is widely recognized as a primary driver of evolutionary innovation and genome complexity, as it is responsible for the acquisition or specialization of gene functions, such as tissue expression. Immediately after a duplication event, the resulting genes are functionally redundant; therefore, there is less selective pressure on both copies, and mutations can freely accumulate. It is through the accumulation of these mutations that the two copies can either specialize or acquire new functions. The proposed study aims to investigate whether gene duplication events are often followed by accelerated divergence in tissue expression patterns. We will compare the expression patterns of non-duplicated and duplicated genes to determine whether there are significant differences in the evolutionary rates of their expression patterns, and to explore the differences between the evolution of parental and daughter copies. This aspect of gene duplication has not been thoroughly investigated, and taking a deeper look can help us understand how gene copies evolve asymmetrically after gene duplication. We hypothesize that gene duplication accelerates gene evolution at the tissue expression level and that relocating to a new epigenetic environment will cause daughter copies to experience a faster acceleration in tissue expression divergence.