An interesting problem in evolutionary biology is how genes with novel functions originate. The research in my laboratory focuses on this problem, although we are also interested in other issues of molecular evolution. Interest in evolutionary novelties can be traced back to the time of Darwin. However, studies of the origin and evolution of genes with new functions have only recently become possible and attracted increasing attention. Although conceptual revolution is always what we wish to pursue, the available molecular techniques and rapidly expanded genome data from many organisms mean that searching for and characterizing new genes is no longer a formidable technical obstacle. Molecular and evolutionary studies have provided powerful analytical tools for the detection of the processes and mechanisms that underlie the origin of new genes. Two levels of questions about this process can be defined. First, at the level of individual new genes, what are the initial molecular mechanisms that generate new gene structures? Once a new gene arises in an individual genome in a natural population, how does it spread throughout an entire species to become fixed? And, how does the young gene subsequently evolve? Second, at the level of the genome, how often do new genes originate? If new gene formation is not a rare event, are there any patterns that underlie the process? And, what evolutionary and genetic mechanisms govern any such patterns? I believe that an efficient approach to these questions is to examine young genes because their early processes of origination are directly observable. Pursuit of these problems requires an integrated approach incorporating molecular, genomic and population analyses. My lab applies such an approach to our studies. Using experimental and computational genomic analysis, we identified numerous new genes in Drosophila and mammalian genomes. Using molecular analysis, we revealed some important molecular evolutionary mechanisms responsible for their current gene structures. By evolutionary genetic analysis, we observed a significant role of the adaptive evolution in the determination of the fate of those new genes. Interesting patterns are observed associated with these new genes. We saw, we came, and we found....

Myths and Science:

sphinx

According to ancient Greek legend, the sphinx was a creature with a human head, the body of a lion and the wings of an angel, which loved to ask riddles to those who dared to guess an answer. Unfortunately, those brave but unlucky people who failed to answer the riddles correctly often became part of the sphinx's diet. The extremely young sphinx gene was so-called because it has a chimeric exon-intron structure with the participation of a third mobile-element component, an S element, and it also presented a riddle with its unusual functionality. Fortunately, the investigators who took on the challenge of investigating the formation of sphinx had the luck of Oedipus, who strangled the sphinx.

jingwei.

In an ancient Chinese legend, the first Chinese emperor Yande (3,000 BC) brother to the Yellow-Emperor, had a pretty princess named Jingwei. Like other legendary southern Chinese goddesses, Jingwei liked to swim. Unfortunately, she drowned in the East China Sea. She was reincarnated into a beautiful bird, who, to save others from possible tragedy, carried soil and stones in an attempt to fill in the ocean. The new gene was named jingwei because it was first thought to be a pseudogene and was then 'reincarnated' as a new functional gene with a new structure. To be consistent, other related genes were named following this legend.