Evolvability and hierarchy in rewired bacterial gene networks

Mark Isalan (), Caroline Lemerle, Konstantinos Michalodimitrakis, Carsten Horn, Pedro Beltrao, Emanuele Raineri, Mireia Garriga-Canut and Luis Serrano
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Mark Isalan: EMBL/CRG Systems Biology Research Unit, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), UPF, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Caroline Lemerle: EMBL, Meyerhofstrasse 1, Heidelberg D-69117, Germany
Konstantinos Michalodimitrakis: EMBL/CRG Systems Biology Research Unit, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), UPF, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Carsten Horn: EMBL, Meyerhofstrasse 1, Heidelberg D-69117, Germany
Pedro Beltrao: EMBL, Meyerhofstrasse 1, Heidelberg D-69117, Germany
Emanuele Raineri: EMBL/CRG Systems Biology Research Unit, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), UPF, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Mireia Garriga-Canut: EMBL/CRG Systems Biology Research Unit, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), UPF, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Luis Serrano: EMBL/CRG Systems Biology Research Unit, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), UPF, 08003 Barcelona, Spain

Nature, 2008, vol. 452, issue 7189, 840-845

Abstract: Abstract Sequencing DNA from several organisms has revealed that duplication and drift of existing genes have primarily moulded the contents of a given genome. Though the effect of knocking out or overexpressing a particular gene has been studied in many organisms, no study has systematically explored the effect of adding new links in a biological network. To explore network evolvability, we constructed 598 recombinations of promoters (including regulatory regions) with different transcription or σ-factor genes in Escherichia coli, added over a wild-type genetic background. Here we show that ∼95% of new networks are tolerated by the bacteria, that very few alter growth, and that expression level correlates with factor position in the wild-type network hierarchy. Most importantly, we find that certain networks consistently survive over the wild type under various selection pressures. Therefore new links in the network are rarely a barrier for evolution and can even confer a fitness advantage.

Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1038/nature06847

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