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Related Concept Videos

Protein Families02:47

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Protein families are groups of homologous proteins; that is, they have similarities in amino acid sequences and three-dimensional structures. Protein families usually occur because of gene duplication, where an additional copy of a gene is inserted into the genome of an organism.   Mutations that change the amino acids but still allow the protein to be properly synthesized, will lead to new protein family members.   If these new proteins contain similar amino acids in key locations, protein...
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Protein domains are small structurally independent units that are part of a single amino acid chain.  Although these domains are often structurally independent, they may rely on synergistic effects to perform their functions as part of a larger protein. Protein domains may be conserved within the same organism, as well as across different organisms.
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Within a biological system, the DNA encodes the RNA, and the nucleotide sequence in the RNA further defines the amino acid sequence in the protein. This is referred to as “The Central Dogma of Molecular Biology” - a term coined by Francis Crick.  Central dogma is a firm principle in biology that defines the flow of genetic information within any life form. The two fundamental steps in central dogma are - transcription and translation.
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Heterotachy, an important process of protein evolution.

P Lopez1, D Casane, H Philippe

  • 1Phylogénie, Bioinformatique et Génome, CNRS, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 9, quai St. Bernard, 75005 Paris, France.

Molecular Biology and Evolution
|December 26, 2001
PubMed
Summary

Evolutionary rates at protein sites are not constant. This study reveals that most variable protein positions exhibit heterotachy, or changing substitution rates, even in functionally similar molecules like cytochrome b.

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Molecular Evolution
  • Bioinformatics

Background:

  • Protein evolution models typically assume constant substitution rates at each site.
  • Variations in substitution rates across protein sites are often modeled using distributions like the Gamma distribution.
  • Recent findings suggest that evolutionary rates at a specific site can change over time, a phenomenon termed heterotachy.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the prevalence and significance of heterotachy in protein evolution.
  • To determine if heterotachy occurs even when functional constraints are similar.
  • To assess the impact of heterotachy on phylogenetic reconstruction.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of 2,038 amino acid sequences of mitochondrial cytochrome b from vertebrates.
  • Statistical analysis to detect variations in substitution rates among homologous positions across different lineages.
  • Comparison of heterotachy patterns in functionally conserved proteins versus those with divergent functions.

Main Results:

  • Demonstrated that 95% of variable positions in mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences are heterotachous.
  • Showed that heterotachy occurs even at small evolutionary scales and is unlikely due to functional changes in this dataset.
  • Highlighted that detecting heterotachy requires a large number of homologous sequences.

Conclusions:

  • Heterotachy is a widespread phenomenon in protein evolution, even among proteins with conserved functions.
  • The assumption of constant evolutionary rates at protein sites may be invalid for many evolutionary analyses.
  • Further research is needed to understand the drivers of heterotachy and its implications for phylogenetic methods and functional constraint evolution.