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SUMMARY:Origin and evolution of novel microRNAs. - Dr Antonio Marco\, Univ
 ersity of Essex
DTSTART:20140313T120000Z
DTEND:20140313T130000Z
UID:TALK49228@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Caroline Newnham
DESCRIPTION:MicroRNAs are short (~22nt) RNA regulatory molecules that repr
 ess protein translation. Because of their small size\, genes encoding micr
 oRNAs frequently emerge from non-coding sequences during evolution. In thi
 s talk I will explore two evolutionary consequences of the high rate of no
 vel microRNA emergence in the Drosophila genome. MicroRNAs tend to be clus
 tered in the genome. I will show that this clustering is a consequence of 
 a high rate of microRNA emergence within already transcribed regions. The 
 role of tandem duplication in cluster formation may be negligible. I will 
 also explore microRNAs with a sex-biased expression pattern. In the light 
 of the available data\, male biased microRNAs are the product of a high ra
 te of novel microRNA emergence in the X chromosome. Novel gene emergence f
 rom non-coding sequences may have a bigger impact that duplication and sel
 ection in the evolution of microRNAs.\n\nReferences\n\nMarco A (2013) Sex-
 biased expression of microRNAs in Drosophila melanogaster. arXiv\, 1312.31
 12.\n\nMarco A\, Ninova M\, Ronsaugen M\, Griffiths-Jones S (2013) Cluster
 s of microRNAs emerge by new hairpins in existing transcripts. Nucleic Aci
 ds Res\, 41:7745-7752\n\n
LOCATION:Part II Room\, Department of Genetics
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