Evolution of Gene Families and Function in Animal Evolution

The sequencing of an increasing number of genomes and transcriptomes from a broader diversity of organisms opens unique opportunities to empirically understand the evolutionary emergence of gene families during animal evolution. Our interests are largely focused on the diversification of families of transcription factors, which serve critical roles in the development and/or stress-response of traditional animal models (e.g., mouse, Drosophila, C. elegans). Genome sequences from early diverging animal phyla (Cnidarians, Ctenophores, Trichoplax, Sponges) have contributed greatly to our understanding of when these genes evolved, providing a map of genome evolution. After identification of the genes, we would also like to understand when particular functions of these genes appeared in animal evolution in an effort to understand if the function characterized in traditional bilaterian models was present even earlier in evolution or if those described functions (or some subset of them) evolved later.