Comparative genomics of 500 species reveal new insights about superpowers, drugs and human diseases

Yuval Tabach
Department of Developmental Biology and Cancer Research
The Institute For Medical Research-Israel-Canada
The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School
Jerusalem, 91120 Israel


 Various eukaryotes have developed extraordinary traits such as genetic resistance to cancer and hypoxia, increased life span, ability to hibernate, regeneration of lost tissue, and adaptation to severe environments. Comparing the genomes of these and other species can reveal genetic – phenotypic – environmental crosstalk and lead to genomic approaches to tackle fundamental bio-medical challenges.

In recent years we have analyzed hundreds of eukaryotic genomes, evaluating simultaneously the evolution of each protein across the tree of life. By mapping all human genes into clusters of genes, with distinct patterns of conservation across eukaryotic phylogeny, we demonstrated that sets of genes associated with cancer, metabolic diseases or disease phenotypes, and also those associated with most gene networks, have similar phylogenetic profiles.