Week 8

Question 1

accumulation of small changes in protein coding sequences is not enough

Answer 1

you have to change gene regulation
- you can change wehre, when and how much of a protein you make

Question 2

so can you alter development

Answer 2

1) modularity
- anatomical units - can be altered without affecting other organ systems - because instructions are modular
2) molecular parsimony - re use of same molecules in different contexts means that evolution of thousands of new ones is not necessary

Question 3

modularity of enhancers

Answer 3

• regulatory proteins control development : more genes are expressed during early development than other part of life cycle in differentiated tissue
• enhancer sequences are cis-acting elements that have no promoter actovity but can stimulate the effectiveness of promoters even when lcated thousands of nucleotides from the promotor
• ennhancer elements can be altered without altering protein coding sequence