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Systems biology

Genome rewired

Nature volume 452, pages 824–825 (2008)Cite this article

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.

Change in the genetic code is the driving force of classical evolution. Typically, it is thought that mutations in single nucleotides within the DNA sequence ensure such change, but other random alterations such as deletion, duplication and recombination of gene sequences can also occur. The robustness of organisms to such changes, which are necessary for evolution, is of fundamental interest, and so previous studies have investigated the sturdiness of gene-regulatory networks by either deleting1 or overexpressing2 individual genes. On page 840 of this issue, Isalan et al.3 describe a different approach. They used high-throughput assay techniques to systemically rewire the architecture of the genetic network of the bacterium Escherichia coli. Their findings provide insight into not only the robustness but also the evolvability of this network.

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Figure 1: Intra-network communication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Matthew R. Bennett and Jeff Hasty are in the Department of Bioengineering and Institute for Nonlinear Science, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0412, USA. hasty@bioeng.ucsd.edu,

    Matthew R. Bennett & Jeff Hasty

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  1. Matthew R. Bennett
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  2. Jeff Hasty
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Bennett, M., Hasty, J. Genome rewired. Nature 452, 824–825 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/452824a

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