HDC GENE HOMOLOGY
GENE HOMOLOGY
Gene homology refers to the evolutionary relationship between similar genes in different species. Homologous genes are derived from common DNA sequences and have related functions. Some genes can be highly conserved, or maintained, throughout evolution [2].
Hdc GENE HOMOLOGY
Hdc has been discovered as a relatively conserved gene across a few key species. To identify the homologous Hdc gene between organisms, NCBI Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) was used. This tool compares input sequences of DNA, mRNA or protein (on this data set DNA and mRNA sequences were used) against a database of already known sequences and provides identical or semi-identical matches [3]. To see how closely the Hdc genes were related, every program uses percent identity. This shows how identical the protein sequences are between species by comparing DNA sequences and their patterns. HomoloGene is another useful tool, which provides information on the already known homologs of the Hdc gene and their relative percent identity [4]. Below are a few of the common scientific animal models that have the conserved Hdc gene and a link for more information regarding their individual variations.
Hdc GENETIC HOMOLOGS
House Mouse [M. musculus]
Hdc, histidine decarboxylase Accession #: XM_006498784.1 85.9% identical sequence FASTA |
ANALYSIS
As you can see here, Hdc is highly conserved in the mammalian kingdom. This makes sense because histidine is important in neurotransmitter production and all mammals have brains with neurotransmitters. It would be interesting to look at simple brain systems in other organisms such as worms, to see if histidine decarboxylase has a significant role there.
Header Image Credit http://www.daylightatheism.org/tag/evolution/page/2
REFERENCES
1 "Dictionary" Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 19 Feb 2014 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/homology
2 ""Homologous genes" Understanding Evolution: your one-stop source for information on evolution. Retrieved 19 Feb 2014
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/1_0_0/eyes_10
3 "BLAST Assembled RefSeq Genomes" NCBI/BLAST. Retrieved 19 Feb 2014 http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi
4 "HomoloGene" NCBI. Retrieved 19 Feb 2014 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/homologene?cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AlignmentScores&list_uids=20490
REFERENCES
1 "Dictionary" Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 19 Feb 2014 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/homology
2 ""Homologous genes" Understanding Evolution: your one-stop source for information on evolution. Retrieved 19 Feb 2014
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/1_0_0/eyes_10
3 "BLAST Assembled RefSeq Genomes" NCBI/BLAST. Retrieved 19 Feb 2014 http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi
4 "HomoloGene" NCBI. Retrieved 19 Feb 2014 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/homologene?cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AlignmentScores&list_uids=20490
University of Wisconsin – Madison
Spring 2014 Genetics 564 |
TOURETTE SYNDROME |