Group Robinson-Rechavi

Research in our group is mainly focused on linking the evolution of animal development to genome evolution. The group develops Bgee, a database for gene expression evolution, and studies the consequences of whole genome duplication in fishes. The group is also involved in targeted projects in the field of comparative functional genomics.

Gene and genome duplication are considered major mechanisms in the creation of new functions in genomes, or in the refinement of networks by the division of function among more genes. In animals, the best demonstrated whole genome duplication occurred in the origin of teleost fishes. This makes fishes an ideal model to study the consequences of genome duplication, particularly since we have a good sampling of genome sequences, abundant functional information, and a very well studied outgroup: the tetrapodes (including human). More specifically, our group studies the consequences of duplication on proteins using models of selection, phylogeny, and structure.
We have established a database to characterize positive selection: Selectome

We collaborate with experimental biology laboratories, bringing expertise in comparative functional genomics. We presently have projects concerning nuclear hormone receptors (Crescendo IP), and muscle (Decrypthon).

Bgee is a database to compare expression patterns between animal species. Bgee addresses difficulties such as complex anatomies and diverse sources of data by the use of ontologies and the explicit representation of homology. Homology relationships are defined both between genes and between anatomical features. The main efforts are the annotation of anatomical and developmental terms and their homology relationships, and the annotation and statistical treatment of transcriptome data. Such efforts provide an answer to the question "Where is this gene expressed?" from the analysis of data as diverse as ESTs, microarrays, and in situ hybridization. We have the aim of producing a database useful to disciplines such as comparative genomics, Evo-Devo, or transcriptome studies, whilst providing an improved integration of homology and related concepts into bioinformatics through ontologies and ontology tools.
Bgee is available at http://bgee.unil.ch