Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

The evolution of cis and trans-regulators in eukaryotes

Objective

Gene regulation plays an essential role in shaping species differences and modulating phenotypes across development and environmental conditions. It essentially works through the recruitment of trans-acting intermediates to cis-acting DNA sequences affecting the expression of the nearby gene. While gene expression regulation is central in molecular, cellular, developmental, and system biology, its detailed mechanisms have relatively little been incorporated into modern evolutionary theory. I previously discovered two processes specific to gene expression evolution in diploids, cis-regulator runaway and divergence. They arise because of (i) transient dominance modifications that automatically occur following the evolution of cis-acting regulatory elements and (ii) coevolution of these cis-acting elements with trans-acting regulators. I have shown that accounting for these processes calls into question a half-century of theory on sex chromosome evolution and may rejuvenate empirical and theoretical work in this field. Here, I will develop the evolutionary theory of cis- and trans-regulators at full scale and empirically test its core features and predictions. Specifically, there are sound reasons to believe that this new theory also has the potential to strongly advance our understanding of other fundamental and enigmatic features of eukaryotic life. It may be a crucial missing element to explain the origin of eukaryotic regulatory complexity and how and why sex asex transitions fail or succeed and, therefore, why eukaryotic sex is maintained. RegEvol offers a new and original approach to important problems in evolutionary biology. If successful, it will significantly advance our understanding of eukaryotic life-forms and provide a general framework for gene expression evolution in eukaryotes.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) ERC-2022-ADG

See all projects funded under this call

Host institution

CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 2 499 911,00
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 2 499 911,00

Beneficiaries (1)

My booklet 0 0