Evolution and core processes in gene expression

June 26–29, 2025
Stowers Institute, Kansas City, Mo.

The evolution of organismal diversity and the mechanisms of gene expression are mutually dependent processes. Evolutionary processes operate at the level of gene expression, especially at the level of cis-regulatory sequences, as such changes are expected to be less pleiotropic than changes at the protein level. Conversely, cis-regulatory variation is an important component in the study of gene regulation, and identifying cis-regulatory changes that alter gene expression is key to identifying causal variants underlying human diseases.

To examine these interlinked phenomena, the meeting has an interdisciplinary focus, ranging from the fundamental mechanisms of the cis-regulatory code to the phenotypic consequences in development and evolution. Previous meetings have emphasized population and organismal level evolutionary biology, cutting-edge genomics technology and deep learning.

This year’s program adds synthetic biology as a “bottom up” dimension to these “reverse engineering” approaches as another way of studying basic mechanisms underlying gene regulation and how it evolves. The meeting will bring fresh perspectives from experts in different fields to obtain a deeper understanding of core life processes from a gene expression, developmental, and evolutionary perspective.