Duplication of a promiscuous transcription factor drives the emergence of a new regulatory network

Ksenia Pougach, Arnout Voet, Fyodor A. Kondrashov, Karin Voordeckers, Joaquin F. Christiaens, Bianka Baying, Vladimir Benes, Ryo Sakai, Jan Aerts, Bo Zhu, Patrick Van Dijck and Kevin J. Verstrepen ()
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Ksenia Pougach: Laboratory for Genetics and Genomics, Centre of Microbial and Plant Genetics (CMPG), KU Leuven
Arnout Voet: Structural Bioinformatics, Center for Life Science Technologies (CLST), RIKEN
Fyodor A. Kondrashov: Laboratory of Evolutionary Genomics, Centre for genomic regulation (CRG)
Karin Voordeckers: Laboratory for Genetics and Genomics, Centre of Microbial and Plant Genetics (CMPG), KU Leuven
Joaquin F. Christiaens: Laboratory for Genetics and Genomics, Centre of Microbial and Plant Genetics (CMPG), KU Leuven
Bianka Baying: Genomics Core Facility, European Molecular Biology Laboratory Heidelberg (EMBL)
Vladimir Benes: Genomics Core Facility, European Molecular Biology Laboratory Heidelberg (EMBL)
Ryo Sakai: STADIUS Center for Dynamical Systems, Signal Processing and Data Analytics, KU Leuven
Jan Aerts: STADIUS Center for Dynamical Systems, Signal Processing and Data Analytics, KU Leuven
Bo Zhu: Laboratory for Genetics and Genomics, Centre of Microbial and Plant Genetics (CMPG), KU Leuven
Patrick Van Dijck: Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology Section, KU Leuven
Kevin J. Verstrepen: Laboratory for Genetics and Genomics, Centre of Microbial and Plant Genetics (CMPG), KU Leuven

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract The emergence of new genes throughout evolution requires rewiring and extension of regulatory networks. However, the molecular details of how the transcriptional regulation of new gene copies evolves remain largely unexplored. Here we show how duplication of a transcription factor gene allowed the emergence of two independent regulatory circuits. Interestingly, the ancestral transcription factor was promiscuous and could bind different motifs in its target promoters. After duplication, one paralogue evolved increased binding specificity so that it only binds one type of motif, whereas the other copy evolved a decreased activity so that it only activates promoters that contain multiple binding sites. Interestingly, only a few mutations in both the DNA-binding domains and in the promoter binding sites were required to gradually disentangle the two networks. These results reveal how duplication of a promiscuous transcription factor followed by concerted cis and trans mutations allows expansion of a regulatory network.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5868

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