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SUMMARY:Dr Iain Johnston (Imperial): Evolutionary inference across the euka
 ryotic Tree of Life identifies the pressures favouring mtDNA gene retentio
 n
DESCRIPTION:Evolutionary inference across the eukaryotic Tree of Life ident
 ifies the pressures favoring mtDNA gene retention \nMitochondria\, central
  energy sources in our cells\, were originally independent organisms\, tak
 en hostage by our evolutionary ancestors. Since this endosymbiotic event\,
  mitochondria have lost most of their genes (either completely\, or to the
  host cell nucleus)\, with modern eukaryotes retaining only a small set of
  genes encoded by mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The structure and size of thi
 s retained set varies dramatically across eukaryotic species (Plasmodium h
 as 3 protein-coding mtDNA genes\; R. americana has 65)\, due to evolutiona
 ry mechanisms that have been debated\, mainly qualitatively\, for decades.
  I’ll talk about our work developing a new and very generalisable theore
 tical framework coupling stochastic modelling with Bayesian inference\, an
 d its application to a large genomic dataset comprising thousands of mtDNA
  genomes from across the eukaryotic Tree of Life. We elucidate the pattern
 s of mtDNA genome evolution and identify the physical and genetic features
  that favour retention of a gene in mtDNA. Our results support some previo
 usly proposed mechanisms and identify new ones\, highlighting roles for bi
 oenergetic control and biochemical stability in mtDNA evolution.
URL:https://www.imperial.ac.uk/events/104365/dr-iain-johnston-imperial-coll
 ege/
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20150505T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20150505T140000
LOCATION:213\, Huxley Building\, South Kensington Campus\, Imperial College
  London\, London\, SW7 2AZ\, United Kingdom
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