Evolution of regulatory networks with the Yeast Cell Cycle as an example application

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Tanja Stadler
• Subject Area: Bioinformatics and Theoretical Biology
• Term: Funded in 2009
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 157103777

Since Charles Darwin formulated his theory of the evolution of species, it has been of interest in biology to identify how species have diverged by evolutionary changes. Initially this was done through morphological characters. With the increasingly easy access to biomolecular data, in particular sequential data like DNA and protein sequences, this focus has shifted to the fundamental unit of evolution, namely the instantaneous mutation in genomic material. Larger scale biochemical data is now starting to become accessible in quantities comparable to the early days of DNA sequencing, and this growth can only be expected to continue along a similar trajectory. A fundamental goal in biology is to understand the mapping from genotype, i.e. the DNA of a species, to phenotype, i.e. the actual living individuals of a species. It is thus highly relevant to start expanding our repertoire of evolutionary models from biosequences towards higher levels of organisation. We will pursue this objective for the key concept of how genes interact in regulatory networks, with initial application to the yeast cell cycle where sufficiently detailed knowledge is already available to allow sensible measures of evolutionary space and fitness to be defined.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: United Kingdom
• Host: Professor Dr. Jotun Hein