This web page was produced as an assignment for Genetics 564, an undergraduate capstone course at UW-Madison
What is protein homology?
Proteins that are homologous are thought to have sequences that diverged from a common ancestral sequence. There are two branches of homologues, orthologues and paralogues [1]. Orthologues are found in separate species and have been separated by a speciation event, whereas paralogues arise from duplication events within a species [1]. However, it can be difficult to distinguish between orthologues and paralogues, as orthologues can be lost while the paralogue stays [1]. This could make a paralogue appear to just be an orthologue. Homologues can be scored using percent identity scores, which is the percent of the Homo sapiens (human) sequence that matches with the sequence from another species [2]. The following results show the MITF homologues with their protein size and percent identity score, which were found using NCBI: BLAST and Ensembl.
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Analysis
The MITF protein is highly conserved among mammals as seen by % Identities of 94 and higher. MITF is much less conserved when comparing C. elegans and Fruitflies to humans as these % Identities are very low.
References
1. Lee, D., Redfern, O., Orengo, C. “Predicting protein function from sequence and structure” Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 8, 995-1005 (December 2007) doi:10.1038/nrm2281
2. Fassler, J. (2011, July 14). BLAST Glossary. Retrieved February 14, 2017, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK62051/
1. Lee, D., Redfern, O., Orengo, C. “Predicting protein function from sequence and structure” Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 8, 995-1005 (December 2007) doi:10.1038/nrm2281
2. Fassler, J. (2011, July 14). BLAST Glossary. Retrieved February 14, 2017, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK62051/
Destiny Baars | [email protected]
University of Wisconsin - Madison
www.genetics564.weebly.com
Last updated: 2/14/2017
University of Wisconsin - Madison
www.genetics564.weebly.com
Last updated: 2/14/2017