Ms. Xin-Ying Ren, MSc: "Comparative genomics of the relationship between gene structure and expression"

This thesis is about the relationships between gene structure and gene expression in genomes of higher eukaryotes. We show that a few but relevant number of neighboring genes exhibit coexpression. We also show that genomes differ in basal parameters linking expression and structure: higher expression in plants does not imply shorter and more compact genes as was demonstrated for mammalian genomes. Methods of analyses, however, need scrutiny. The comparison of genomes helps identifying parameters and mechanisms shaping the relationships between gene structure and expression in evolution. By studying such relationships with the help of bioinformatics, we have contributed to the better understanding of genome organization and regulation. This may result in future applications, such as in driving gene expression in the desired direction or how to control it properly. It may help to identify optimally expressed alleles in breeding populations or contribute to optimizing the expression of transgenes.