Download Seminar Abstract - Las Positas College

Molecular Evolution
Propagating genetic changes: mechanisms and functional consequences
LLNL-LPC Science and Engineering Seminar Series
April 9, 2015, Thursday, 6:00 – 7:15 PM
Room 2420, Las Positas College
ABSTRACT
All present day living beings are thought to have evolved by processes that give rise
to key biomolecules through molecular evolution, a series of mutational mechanisms
affecting DNA and in turn the proteins encoded by DNA. These new biomolecules
confer new or enhanced capabilities, which can give rise to new species.
Mechanisms of DNA variation include: deletions, insertions, duplications, and
horizontal gene transfer; which can affect the number and arrangement of genes
and how they are regulated. DNA point mutations within individual genes also
contribute to the rise of new gene function. Garcia and Segelke will discuss some of
the details of these molecular evolution processes, as they occur at the DNA and
protein level, as well as the tools and experimental approaches that are used to
decipher and understand such mechanisms. Several examples of DNA and protein
molecular evolution will be discussed. These examples will elucidate how our current
understanding of molecular evolution is used to discover deep evolutionary
connections between biomolecules and species, and how our understanding can
help scientists to infer the function of previously uncharacterized genes.
BIOGRAPHIES
Dr. Brent Segelke is a senior biomedical scientist at LLNL. Dr.
Segelke received a BS in Chemistry from the University of
California at Davis and a Ph.D. in biophysics from UC San
Diego. Dr. Segelke was a postdoctoral fellow at the Scripps
research institute in La Jolla in the laboratory of Dr. Ian
Wilson, then a postdoc in Dr. Bernhard Rupp’s lab at LLNL.
Dr. Segelke’s primary research interest is understanding
molecular mechanism of infectious disease.
Dr. Emilio Garcia is presently a visiting scientist at LLNL, he
received a BS in Microbiology at California State University
Los Angeles and a Ph.D. also in microbiology at UC Davis. He
spent some 23 years at the BBR program at LLNL conducting
research first as part of the Human Genome Program and
more recently worked on the use of comparative genomics to
study the evolution of pathogenic bacteria.