Institut Jacques Monod seminar – Peter Andersen

Invited by the Duharcourt Lab, Peter Andersen (Associate Professor at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Aarhus University) will present an Institut Jacques Monod seminar on the theme:

Running to stand still – Recurrent innovation of animal germline genome regulation

Abstract:

Gene expression relies on core protein machineries that function at almost all protein-coding genes, including basal transcription factors and co-transcriptional processing factors. Animal germ cells, however, express alternative, paralog-based core machineries that enable gametogenesis. The molecular mechanism and gene regulatory impact of such paralog-based genome regulation, however, remain underexplored. We have identified and characterized several germline-specific basal transcription factor paralogs in the Drosophila melanogaster animal model organism. Our findings uncover how such paralogs form specialized gene expression pathways that bend and bypass the known textbook rules of RNA Polymerase II-based gene expression to ensure germline genome integrity and proper germ cell development. Surprisingly, while the identified paralogs are all essential for fertility, we find rapid evolution to be a shared feature of paralog-based germline gene expression pathways and we uncover functional molecular innovation underlying such evolutionary signatures. We propose that such paralog-based complexes represent valuable model systems for mechanistic and evolutionary investigation of animal germline genome regulation.