How Organ Functions Were Shaped over the Course of Evolution

Heidelberg researchers gain groundbreaking new insights into the regulation and evolution of gene expression in mammalian organs. A large-scale study conducted by molecular biologists from Heidelberg University has yielded groundbreaking new insights into the evolution and regulation of gene expression in mammalian organs. The scientists investigated RNA synthesis and subsequent protein synthesis in the organs of humans and other representative mammals, and with the aid of sequencing technologies, they analysed more than 100 billion gene expression fragments from various organs. They were able to demonstrate that the finely tuned interplay of the two synthesis processes during evolution was crucial for shaping organ functions. A complex interplay of activity between a large number of genes - known as gene expression - underlies organ functions. "Until now, our understanding of these essential genetic programmes in mammals was limited to the first layer of gene expression - the production of messenger RNAs," explains Henrik Kaessmann, group leader of the "Functional evolution of mammalian genomes" research team at the Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University (ZMBH). "The next layer - the actual synthesis of proteins at the ribosome through the translation of the messenger RNAs - remained largely unknown." It is this second synthesis process that the Heidelberg researchers have now studied more closely.