[SEMINAR] Hidden connection between CNSs and macroscopic phenotypes of eukaryotes

Speaker: Naruya Saitou, Professor, Division of Population Genetics, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima

Title: Hideen connection between CNSs and macroscopic phenotypes of eukaryotes

Abstract:

Preface of my textbook “Introduction to Evolutionary Genomics Second Edition”
(2018, Springer, in press) starts from these sentences:

Organisms on the earth are rich in diversity. Each organism also contains its
own genome with many genes. These complex genetic systems have been generated
and constantly modified through eons of evolution since the origin of life.
Evolutionary study is thus indispensable for gaining the unified view of life.
Because even a single-cell bacterium is so complex, we have to study its genetic
entity, that is, its genome, to acquire a comprehensive view of the organism.

Study of natural history goes back to search of nature conducted in hunter-gatherer
cultures for more than one million years, while evolutionary studies were initiated
only 200 years ago. Nowadays, evolutionary studies and natural history studies are
essentially synonyms. Because biodiversity develops through evolution of genomes,
genome diversity is central to natural history studies. However, classic natural history
studies mostly relied on morphological characters, while there were difficulty for
DNA and amino acid sequences to explain those morphological diversity. This gap
between molecules and morphologies is now closing. I would like to summarize our
recent studies on possible roles of evolutionarily conserved noncoding sequences
(CNSs) for macroscopic phenotypes of eukaryotes.