Presentation description

In eukaryotes, the promoter is the DNA site initiating genetic transcription while enhancers are regulatory elements that improve efficiency of this process. Despite the enhancer's seemingly optional function, in "new/orphan" genes, enhancers can act similarly to promoters, eventually evolving into them if they appear nearby new genes. Orphan genes have no identifiable homolog and comprise 10-30% of nearly all eukaryotic genomes yet their origins remain unknown. This raises the question of how the evolution of enhancers to promoters commenced, and if there is a definite correlation between this phenomenon and the appearance of orphan genes. The Basic Local Alignment Search Tool was used to compare the proteomes in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans with closely related nematode species, Caenorhabditis tropicalis and Caenorhabditis briggsae, as well as the more distant Pristionchus pacificus. The data identified new genes that arose and confirmed that the number of new genes increased with evolutionary distance; C. elegans being most related to C. briggsae with 1,816 new genes and P. pacificus most distant at 5,913 new genes. For further analysis, these nematodes were cultured, RNA from the nuclei was extracted and purified, and submitted for short read illumina sequencing. This localizes previously found orphan genes, allowing for comparison of enhancers amongst the four species. These results build upon our understanding of transcription mechanisms in eukaryotic organisms, which can explain how new genes may arise in organisms to create new species, introduce phenotypes or genetic diseases, and allow for potential medical treatments when translated to humans.