HDC PROTEIN HOMOLOGY
PROTEIN HOMOLOGY
Protein homology refers to the evolutionary relationship between similar proteins in different species [1]. Homologous proteins are derived from common amino acid sequences, but may have developed new functions in more distant related species. Some proteins are highly conserved, or maintained, throughout evolution and these usually serve important roles in cellular maintenance or structural functions.
HDC HOMOLOGY
HDC has been discovered as a relatively conserved protein across many species. To identify homologous HDC 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 protein sequences were used) against a database of already known sequences and provides identical or semi-identical matches [2]. Another source used to find homologous HDC proteins was UniProtKB (UniProt Knowledgebase) [3]. UniProtKB provides the amino acid sequence, protein name and description of the protein in question in each species using computational analysis and information from scientific papers. To see how closely the HDC proteins were related, every program uses percent identity. This shows how identical the protein sequences are between species by comparing amino acids and their postitions. HomoloGene is another useful tool, which provides information on the already known homologs of HDC and their relative percent identity [4]. Below are a few of the common scientific animal models and other animals that have the conserved HDC protein and a link for more information regarding their individual variations.
HDC PROTEIN HOMOLOGS
ANALYSIS
Much like the genetic homology, histidine decarboxylase is highly conserved in the mammalian models. However, significant sequence similarities are found in insects, plants and zebrafish. Because the plant Arabidopsis does not have a brain, further studies would be needed to determine it's role in plants. However, the role of defense would be a good guess due to histamine having a role in the immune system as well as the brain in mammals.
Header Image Credit http://www.daylightatheism.org/tag/evolution/page/2
REFERENCES
1 "Identification of homology in protein structure classification" Pubmed.gov Retrieved 12 Feb 2014 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11685241
2 "BLAST Assembled RefSeq Genomes" NCBI/BLAST. Retrieved 12 Feb 2014 http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi
3 "UniProt" UniProt Knowledgebase. Retrieved 12 Feb 2014 http://www.uniprot.org/
4 "HomoloGene" NCBI. Retrieved 12 Feb 2014 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/homologene?cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AlignmentScores&list_uids=20490
5 "Dictionary" Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 12 Feb 2014 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/homology
REFERENCES
1 "Identification of homology in protein structure classification" Pubmed.gov Retrieved 12 Feb 2014 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11685241
2 "BLAST Assembled RefSeq Genomes" NCBI/BLAST. Retrieved 12 Feb 2014 http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi
3 "UniProt" UniProt Knowledgebase. Retrieved 12 Feb 2014 http://www.uniprot.org/
4 "HomoloGene" NCBI. Retrieved 12 Feb 2014 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/homologene?cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AlignmentScores&list_uids=20490
5 "Dictionary" Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 12 Feb 2014 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/homology
University of Wisconsin – Madison
Spring 2014 Genetics 564 |
TOURETTE SYNDROME |