The ortholog conjecture is untestable by the current gene ontology but is supported by RNA sequencing data.

ABSTRACT: The ortholog conjecture posits that orthologous genes are functionally more similar than paralogous genes. This conjecture is a cornerstone of phylogenomics and is used daily by both computational and experimental biologists in predicting, interpreting, and understanding gene functions. A recent study, however, challenged the ortholog conjecture on the basis of experimentally derived Gene Ontology (GO) annotations and microarray gene expression data in human and mouse. It instead proposed that the functional similarity of homologous genes is primarily determined by the cellular context in which the genes act, explaining why a greater functional similarity of (within-species) paralogs than (between-species) orthologs was observed. Here we show that GO-based functional similarity between hum

SUBMITTER: Chen X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3510086 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature