MBI Seminar

Abstract

The study of cell biology has largely been restricted to a small number of genetically amenable model systems and the investigation of core eukaryotic systems such as the cell division cycle, membranous organelles, cytoskeleton, signalling, homeostasis, and metabolism. As a result, there is good understanding of the highly conserved systems inherited from the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA). By contrast, many branches of the tree of life are unamenable to genetic manipulation.  Thus, the molecular systems that confer lineage-specific adaptations are relatively understudied and our understanding of the genetic basis of evolutionary transitions is at best patchy. The talk will focus on the investigation of three such adaptive systems: gravity sensing in the fungi, the emergence of novel plastids in giant algal cells, and the evolution of obligate heterotrophy in the diatoms. I will show how the molecular basis of these systems can be identified by combining comparative genomics and protein mass spectrometry with reconstitution and heterologous gene expression. The results suggest the ongoing evolution of complex adaptive traits at the genus and species level. The implications of this finding will be discussed. In general, this approach can reveal the genetic basis of evolutionary transitions while also identifying new pathways and protein activities for application in biotechnology and synthetic biology