Intra and Interspecific Variations of Gene Expression Levels in Yeast Are Largely Neutral: (Nei Lecture, SMBE 2016, Gold Coast).

ABSTRACT: It is commonly, although not universally, accepted that most intra and interspecific genome sequence variations are more or less neutral, whereas a large fraction of organism-level phenotypic variations are adaptive. Gene expression levels are molecular phenotypes that bridge the gap between genotypes and corresponding organism-level phenotypes. Yet, it is unknown whether natural variations in gene expression levels are mostly neutral or adaptive. Here we address this fundamental question by genome-wide profiling and comparison of gene expression levels in nine yeast strains belonging to three closely related Saccharomyces species and originating from five different ecological environments. We find that the transcriptome-based clustering of the nine strains approximates the genome sequence

SUBMITTER: Yang JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5850415 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature