Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Dr. Bohr-Gasse 7, A-1030 Vienna, Austria.
Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2009 Dec;19(6):565-70. doi: 10.1016/j.gde.2009.10.006. Epub 2009 Nov 11.
We recently witnessed a tremendous increase in genomics studies on gene regulation and in entirely sequenced genomes from closely related species. This has triggered analyses that suggest a wide range of evolutionary dynamics of gene regulation, from rapid turnover of transcription-factor binding sites to conservation of enhancer function across large evolutionary distances. Many examples show that enhancers can evolve beyond recognizable sequence similarity while retaining function. However, bioinformatics approaches are increasingly able to detect conserved regulatory elements through characteristic evolutionary sequence signatures. Cis-regulatory changes are also a major source of morphological evolution, which might be facilitated by many biochemically functional elements that are selectively neutral and by the buffering function of redundant enhancers and 'shadow' enhancers.
我们最近见证了大量关于基因调控的基因组学研究和来自密切相关物种的全序列基因组。这引发了一系列分析，表明基因调控的进化动态范围广泛，从转录因子结合位点的快速更替到增强子功能在大进化距离上的保守。许多例子表明，增强子可以在保留功能的同时，进化到超出可识别的序列相似性。然而，生物信息学方法越来越能够通过特征进化序列特征检测到保守的调节元件。顺式调控变化也是形态进化的主要来源，这可能是由许多具有生物化学功能的选择性中性元件以及冗余增强子和“影子”增强子的缓冲功能所促成的。
