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Evolution Of Hybrid Incompatibilities In Gene Regulatory Networks, Alexander Y. Tulchinsky

Open Access Dissertations

Under the Dobzhansky-Muller model, postzygotic isolation results from incompatibility between interacting genes. Evidence points to regulatory networks as a rich source of incompatibilities that impact hybrid fitness. Pleiotropy is a natural feature of regulatory networks because regulatory elements generally have multiple targets. Both pleiotropy and hybrid incompatibility arise due to genetic interactions; therefore we can expect an intimate association between them. In the following chapters, I investigate the relationship between pleiotropy and hybrid incompatibility in the context of regulatory networks.

In chapter one, I extend a general network-based study of hybrid incompatibility by incorporating a sequence-based thermodynamic model of transcriptional …