RipGEESE · Identifying the ripples of gene regulation evolution in the evolution of gene sequences to determine when animal nervous systems evolved
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2021-02-26 → 2024-05-01
- EU contribution
- €337,401
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Identifying the ripples of gene regulation evolution in the evolution of gene sequences to determine when animal nervous systems evolved
To date, we don't know how biochemical interactions between proteins in our bodies affect the evolution of those proteins in the long term. This project aims to fill this knowledge gap by focussing on a well-known and relatively well understood system - the nervous system, to retrace the evolution of the proteins involved in its construction and function. The nervous system is found in almost all animals and is essential to understand which elements of our genetic makeup are responsible for this amazing system. It is important to understand the building blocks of systems that we would need to fix, as would be the case with neurological diseases. The overall objective of this project is to use the nervous system as a launching platform to better understand how genomes (the one biological element all living beings have) evolve in a more general sense.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Animals display a bewildering diversity of morphological structures and adaptations that represent dramatic body plan transformations. Forming these diverse body shapes requires the coordinated expression of hundreds of genes in a cell-specific manner; a monumentally complex task that is controlled by gene regulatory networks (GRNs): genes linked to each other by regulatory interactions, which modulate the gene expression in every cell of an organism. Despite their central role in determining animal form and function, it is as of yet unclear how GRNs evolve and how they are linked to the origin of morphological innovation. This project builds on the combined knowledge and expertise of the applicant and three European research institutions in order to tackle this knowledge gap using cutting-edge techniques, and an innovative, multidisciplinary approach that merges molecular, bioinformatic, and phylogenomic methods.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL · BRISTOLCoordinatorUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union