空間パタン形成の遺伝子ネットワーク進化理論
―ネットワーク構造と機能の対応づけ

抄録

One of the major goals in evolutionary developmental biology is to elucidate the relationship between gene regulatory networks and the diverse morphologies. Segmentation in arthropod embryogenesis represents a well-known example of body plan diversity. Striped patterns of gene expression that lead to the future body segments appear simultaneously or sequentially, respectively. To reveal the basic differences in the network structure, we have numerically evolved hundreds of gene regulatory networks. By analyzing the topologies of the generated networks, we show that the characteristics of striped pattern are determined by Feed-Forward Loops (FFLs) and negative Feed-Back Loops (nFBLs).