Thu, 21 Aug 2008 07:05:31 BST CiteULike: emptyhb's Landry http://www.citeulike.org/user/emptyhb/author/Landry CiteULike.org en-gb Copyright © 2004-2008 citeulike.org http://www.citeulike.org/user/emptyhb/article/1357150 <i>Science (24 May 2007)</i><br /><br />Identifying the properties of gene networks that influence their evolution is a fundamental research goal. However, modes of evolution cannot be inferred solely from the distribution of natural variation because selection interacts with demography and mutation rates to shape polymorphism and divergence. Here we estimate the effects of naturally occurring mutations on gene expression while minimizing the effect of natural selection. We demonstrate that sensitivity of gene expression to mutations increases with both increasing trans-mutational target size and the presence of a TATA-box. Genes with greater sensitivity to mutations are also more sensitive to systematic environmental perturbations and stochastic noise. These results provide a mechanistic basis for gene expression evolvability that can serve as a foundation for realistic models of regulatory evolution. Genetic Properties Influencing the Evolvability of Gene Expression. Christian R Landry Bernardo Lemos Scott A Rifkin W J Dickinson Daniel L Hartl doi:10.1126/science.1140247 Science (24 May 2007) 2007-06-02T12:37:06-00:00 2007 Science 1095-9203 expression transcriptional_regulation