Functional Analogy in Human Metabolism: Enzymes with Different Biological Roles or Functional Redundancy?

ABSTRACT: Since enzymes catalyze almost all chemical reactions that occur in living organisms, it is crucial that genes encoding such activities are correctly identified and functionally characterized. Several studies suggest that the fraction of enzymatic activities in which multiple events of independent origin have taken place during evolution is substantial. However, this topic is still poorly explored, and a comprehensive investigation of the occurrence, distribution, and implications of these events has not been done so far. Fundamental questions, such as how analogous enzymes originate, why so many events of independent origin have apparently occurred during evolution, and what are the reasons for the coexistence in the same organism of distinct enzymatic forms catalyzing the same reaction, r

SUBMITTER: Piergiorge RM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5737724 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature