This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supporting Information Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a colleague Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to My File Cabinet Download to citation manager Request Copyright Permission Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via CrossRef Google Scholar Articles by Hinman, V. F. Articles by Davidson, E. H. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Hinman, V. F. Articles by Davidson, E. H. Social Bookmarking                What's this?

 Previous Article  | Table of Contents |  Next Article 

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES / EVOLUTION
Evolutionary plasticity of developmental gene regulatory network architecture

Veronica F. Hinman^* and Eric H. Davidson^,

*634A Mellon Institute, Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213; and Division of Biology 156-29, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125

Contributed by Eric H. Davidson, October 22, 2007 (received for review September 16, 2007)

Sea stars and sea urchins evolved from a last common ancestor that lived at the end of the Cambrian, approximately half a billion years ago. In a previous comparative study of the gene regulatory networks (GRNs) that embody the genomic program for embryogenesis in these animals, we discovered an almost perfectly conserved five-gene network subcircuit required for endoderm specification. We show here that the GRN structure upstream and downstream of the conserved network kernel has, by contrast, diverged extensively. Mesoderm specification is accomplished quite differently; the Delta–Notch signaling system is used in radically distinct ways; and various regulatory genes have been coopted to different functions. The conservation of the conserved kernel is thus the more remarkable. The results indicate types of network linkage subject to evolutionary change. An emergent theme is that subcircuit design may be preserved even while the identity of genes performing given roles changes because of alteration in their cis-regulatory control systems.

echinoderm | gene regulation | Asterina miniata | cis regulation | Delta

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0709994104/DC1.

To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: davidson{at}caltech.edu

© 2007 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles in HighWire Press-hosted journals:

				P. Oliveri, Q. Tu, and E. H. Davidson From the Cover: Feature Article: Global regulatory logic for specification of an embryonic cell lineage PNAS, April 22, 2008; 105(16): 5955 - 5962. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				F. Gao and E. H. Davidson Transfer of a large gene regulatory apparatus to a new developmental address in echinoid evolution PNAS, April 22, 2008; 105(16): 6091 - 6096. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Current Issue | Archives | Online Submission | Info for Authors | Editorial Board | About Subscribe | Advertise | Contact | Site Map Copyright © 2007 by the National Academy of Sciences