Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 26: Networks: From Topology to Dynamics IV (joint session of BP, DY, SOE)

DY 26.1: Talk

Thursday, March 25, 2010, 14:00–14:15, H44

A sequence-based framework for simulating the evolution of gene regulatory networks — •Thimo Rohlf — Programme d'Epigenomique, Genopole Campus 1 - Genavenir 6, 5 rue Henri Desbruères, F-91030 Évry cedex, France — Max-Planck-Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences, Inselstr. 22, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany

An increasing amount of experimental data on global properties of genome organization across various species and phyla is becoming available, suggesting general principles as, e.g., scaling relationships or spatial regularities of gene distribution on DNA. A second level of information is accessible with gene regulatory networks, that control the space-time pattern of gene expression; here, similar (statistical) patterns of conserved regularities are observed. What can Statistical Physics contribute to tackle the question, which of these properties arose from combinatorial and architectural constraints, and which may have been shaped primarily by evolution? I will introduce and discuss a sequence-based artificial genome model that allows an integrative approach to model the emergence of genomic information at the levels of DNA sequence, regulatory networks and phenotype evolution. In particular, the following questions will be addressed: (1) Which types of network properties could be explained from combinatorial/statistical properties of genomes (random genome model), (2) how do they change in evolving genomes, in particular when (3) selective pressure is present, e.g. stabilizing selection for certain patterns of gene activity (phenotypes).