Structure and evolution of gene regulatory networks in microbial genomes.

With the availability of genome sequences for hundreds of microbial genomes, it has become possible to address several questions from a comparative perspective to understand the structure and function of regulatory systems, at least in model organisms. Recent studies have focused on topological properties and the evolution of regulatory networks and their components. Our understanding of natural networks is paving the way to embedding synthetic regulatory systems into organisms, allowing us to expand the natural diversity of living systems to an extent we had never before anticipated.