I am motivated by questions aimed at understanding how cis-regulatory element evolution impacts organismal phenotypes, how developmental mechanisms evolve, and how comparative evolutionary genomics can inform our understanding of the genotype to phenotype map.
My research focuses on related changes in gene expression among primate species to phenotypic adaptations at a genome-wide scale. In my work I also make use of detailed inter- and intra-specific studies on select genes to gain a deeper functional understanding of how cis-regulatory evolution affects the evolution of higher-level phenotypes.
Much of my current work is motivated by the hypothesis, first promoted by King and Wilson in 1975, and supported by comparative genomic analyses, that many of the phenotypic traits distinguishing humans from our closest primate relatives are the result of changes in gene expression rather than functional changes protein-coding sequences.
One of the most striking differences between humans and their closest relatives is in brain development and cognitive complexity. Work by members of our lab (Haygood, Fedrigo, et al. Nat. Genetics, 2007) has shown that selection has acted strongly along the human lineage to change regulatory regions associated with genes involved in neural function and development. To understand the relationship between these signatures of selection and gene expression differences, and to understand how gene expression changes may have contributed to the evolution of these complex neural phenotypes, I am using comparative high-throughput sequencing approaches to quantify gene transcript abundance in the frontal cortex regions of the brains of human and non-human primates.
Genome-scale studies have tremendous power to provide insight into biological processes that are not always visible at the level of individual genes. In my future research, I hope to expand on genome-scale approaches to investigate the contribution of gene expression changes to the evolution of other types of phenotypic change among primate species. I would also like to extend these approaches to understanding evolutionary changes in cis-regulation in other metazoan phyla (e.g. echinoderms and arthropods). However, I believe equally strongly directed studies of one or a few genes can provide important insight into the functional mechanisms by which cis-regulatory evolution affects organismal phenotypes.
In addition to my genome-scale investigations, I have focused on finding specific genetic changes affecting gene regulation within and between primate species. In particular, I have been investigating genetic changes that have played a role in the evolution of neural and dietary phenotypes. Working with specific regulatory domains of genes such as lactase (LCT) and prodynorphin (PDYN), I have identified multiple, functional genetic changes in cis-regulatory regions that distinguish humans from our closest relatives and that have played a role in allowing human populations to adapt to specific environmental and cultural habitats.
PEOPLE: CURRENT LAB MEMBERS
THE WRAY LAB
WRAY LAB • DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY • DEPARTMENT OF EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY • INSTITUTE FOR GENOME SCIENCES & POLICY
4115 FRENCH FAMILY SCIENCES CENTER • DUKE UNIVERSITY • DURHAM, NC 27708 USA • 919-668-6249
