Accumulation of cis- and trans-regulatory variations is associated with phenotypic divergence of a complex trait between yeast species.

ABSTRACT: Gene regulatory variations accumulate during evolution and alter gene expression. While the importance of expression variation in phenotypic evolution is well established, the molecular basis remains largely unknown. Here, we examine two closely related yeast species, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomyces paradoxus, which show phenotypical differences in morphology and cell cycle progression when grown in the same environment. By profiling the cell cycle transcriptome and binding of key transcription factors (TFs) in the two species and their hybrid, we show that changes in expression levels and dynamics of oscillating genes are dominated by upstream trans-variations. We find that multiple cell cycle regulators show both cis- and trans-regulatory variations, which alters their express

SUBMITTER: Lupo O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8022985 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature