Similar Amino Acid Sequences: Chance or Common Ancestry?

作者：Russell F. Doolittle · 发表于：Science · 年份：1981 · DOI：10.1126/science.7280687 · 被引用次数：855 · 研究领域：RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms、Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies、Protein Structure and Dynamics

The systemic comparison of every newly determined amino acid sequence with all other known sequences may allow a complete reconstruction of the evolutionary events leading to contemporary proteins. But sometimes the surviving similarities are so vague that even computer-based sequence comparisons procedures are unable to validate relationships. In other cases similar sequences may appear in totally alien proteins as a result of mere chance or, occasionally, by the convergent evolution of sequences with special properties.