Namiko Abe
Papers
2
Total Citations
108
H-Index
2
About
Namiko Abe is a developmental and evolutionary biologist whose research explores how gene regulatory information is encoded and how it shapes evolvability. Her most cited work, "Dense and pleiotropic regulatory information in a developmental enhancer" (2020, 102 citations), reveals that developmental enhancers can be remarkably dense with regulatory information, with many sequences influencing multiple phenotypic traits—a finding that challenges simple models of modular enhancer function. In a complementary study, "Dense encoding of developmental regulatory information may constrain evolvability" (2020), Abe demonstrates through systematic mutagenesis that this dense encoding can limit the potential for evolutionary change, as mutations are more likely to disrupt pleiotropic functions than generate adaptive variation. Together, these contributions provide critical empirical evidence for how the architecture of regulatory DNA influences both development and evolution. Her work is highly influential in the fields of evolutionary developmental biology and regulatory genomics, offering a nuanced understanding of the constraints and opportunities that shape phenotypic diversity.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Dense and pleiotropic regulatory information in a developmental enhancer102 citations · 2020
- 2