title: Comparative studies of gene regulatory mechanisms.
abstract: It has become increasingly clear that changes in gene regulation have played an important role in adaptive evolution both between and within species. Over the past five years, comparative studies have moved beyond simple characterizations of differences in gene expression levels within and between species to studying variation in regulatory mechanisms. We still know relatively little about the precise chain of events that lead to most regulatory adaptations, but we have taken significant steps towards understanding the relative importance of changes in different mechanisms of gene regulatory evolution. In this review, we first discuss insights from comparative studies in model organisms, where the available experimental toolkit is extensive. We then focus on a few recent comparative studies in primates, where the limited feasibility of experimental manipulation dictates the approaches that can be used to study gene regulatory evolution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States.
authors.forename: Athma A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Pai
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, United States. Electronic address: gilad@uchicago.edu.
authors.forename: Yoav
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gilad
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D019175:DNA Methylation; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D008957:Models, Genetic; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000235:genetics; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics*; D013045:Species Specificity