Editor's Summary
17 April 2008
E. coli rewired
To understand the forces behind the evolution of gene networks we need to test our ideas by constructing synthetic model systems. Until now most systematic genetic manipulations have involved either the deletion or overexpression of a few individual genes. Now by systematically shuffling promoters and coding regions in Escherichia coli, Isalan et al. have achieved the first large-scale rewiring of a gene regulatory network. A panel of 598 gene networks was constructed in which various combinations of master regulators and transcription factors were reconnected, such that inputs to given promoters resulted in expression of different transcription factors, with their associated outputs. More than 95% of transcription site swaps are harmless, with many actually beneficial in several culture conditions.
News and Views: Systems biology: Genome rewired
Within a genome, genes are connected to each other through a complex network of interactions. One way to assess how robust and evolvable such genomic networks are is to introduce new links between unrelated genes.
Matthew R. Bennett & Jeff Hasty
doi:10.1038/452824a
Article: Evolvability and hierarchy in rewired bacterial gene networks
Mark Isalan, Caroline Lemerle, Konstantinos Michalodimitrakis, Carsten Horn, Pedro Beltrao, Emanuele Raineri, Mireia Garriga-Canut & Luis Serrano
doi:10.1038/nature06847
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (425K) | Supplementary information