On homology searches by protein Blast and the characterization of the age of genes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

It has been shown in a variety of organisms, including mammals, that genes that appeared recently in evolution, for example orphan genes, evolve faster than older genes. Low functional constraints at the time of origin of novel genes may explain these results. However, this observation has been recently attributed to an artifact caused by the inability of Blast to detect the fastest genes in different eukaryotic genomes. Distinguishing between these two possible explanations would be of great importance for any studies dealing with the taxon distribution of proteins and the origin of novel genes.

Results

Here we used simulations of protein sequences to examine the capacity of Blast to detect proteins of diverse evolutionary rates in the different species of an euk

SUBMITTER: Alba MM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1855329 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature