RT Journal
A1 Ritter, Ashlyn D.
A1 Shen, Yuan
A1 Fuxman Bass, Juan
A1 Jeyaraj, Sankarganesh
A1 Deplancke, Bart
A1 Mukhopadhyay, Arnab
A1 Xu, Jian
A1 Driscoll, Monica
A1 Tissenbaum, Heidi A.
A1 Walhout, Albertha J.M.
T1 Complex expression dynamics and robustness in C. elegans insulin networks
JF Genome Research 
JO Genome Research 
YR 2013 
FD June 01 
VO 23 
IS 6 
SP 954 
OP 965 
DO 10.1101/gr.150466.112 
UL http://genome.cshlp.org/content/23/6/954.abstract 
AB Gene families expand by gene duplication, and resulting paralogs diverge through mutation. Functional diversification can include neofunctionalization as well as subfunctionalization of ancestral functions. In addition, redundancy in which multiple genes fulfill overlapping functions is often maintained. Here, we use the family of 40 Caenorhabditis elegans insulins to gain insight into the balance between specificity and redundancy. The insulin/insulin-like growth factor (IIS) pathway comprises a single receptor, DAF-2. To date, no single insulin-like peptide recapitulates all DAF-2-associated phenotypes, likely due to redundancy between insulin-like genes. To provide a first-level annotation of potential patterns of redundancy, we comprehensively delineate the spatiotemporal and conditional expression of all 40 insulins in living animals. We observe extensive dynamics in expression that can explain the lack of simple patterns of pairwise redundancy. We propose a model in which gene families evolve to attain differential alliances in different tissues and in response to a range of environmental stresses.