# Molecular Genetics of Evolutionary Innovations

> **NIH NIH R35** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS · 2020 · $486,591

## Abstract

Project summary
 “Evolutionary innovation” refers to the origin of entirely new traits, as opposed to the modification of
existing traits. Although such novelties are relatively rare, all the complexity and diversity of life has
ultimately been shaped by evolutionary innovations that occurred in a nested pattern, with every innovation
dependent on many earlier novelties. Despite their critical importance for everything from geological
nutrient cycles that support all life on Earth to human sentience that distinguishes us from our closest
relatives, the molecular mechanisms of evolutionary innovations are understood far less than the evolution
of existing traits. This is true at all levels of biological organization, from single molecules to the most
complex features of animal form and function. We understand the evolution of existing organs and cell
types better than the origin of new ones; quantitative variation in gene expression has been explored in
much greater detail than the origin of novel regulatory pathways; much more is known about the evolution of
existing genes than about the origin of new genes, and so on. It is this gap in our knowledge that motivates
our work.
 To achieve a comprehensive understanding of evolutionary innovations, it is necessary to connect
novelties at all levels of biological organization: from new functional elements in the genome, to new genetic
pathways, to new morphological structures. Research in our lab will advance in three directions, using the
Drosophila model system. First, we will identify the molecular mechanisms responsible for the origin of new
morphological structures that evolved recently within Drosophila. We will identify the DNA sequences that
gave rise to phenotypic innovations, and reconstruct the cell differentiation pathways than translate these
changes into novel morphologies. Second, we will examine the genomic mechanisms that qualitatively
remodel the gene expression profiles of different organs and cell types, and quantify the relative
contributions of each type of genomic change to the turnover of genes expressed in each tissue. We will
test whether the regulatory circuits that control gene expression evolve predominantly by incorporating
individual genes, or by recruitment of larger genetic modules. Third, we will identify the molecular changes
responsible for the origin of new regulatory elements that control gene expression from non-functional
ancestral sequences. By focusing on novel regulatory elements that evolved within natural populations of a
single species, we will reconstruct the series of mutations that create new functional elements in the
genome, and elucidate the impact of these mutations on gene regulation. Together, these approaches will
promote a deep mechanistic understanding of evolutionary innovations.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9908092
- **Project number:** 5R35GM122592-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS
- **Principal Investigator:** ARTYOM KOPP
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $486,591
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-04-01 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9908092

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9908092, Molecular Genetics of Evolutionary Innovations (5R35GM122592-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9908092. Licensed CC0.

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