A gene family is a set of genes with a known homology. They are generally biochemically similar. Genes are categorized this way into families, depending on shared nucleotide or protein sequences. Phylogenetic techniques can be used as a more rigorous test. The positions of introns within the coding sequence can be used to infer common ancestry.

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dbpprop:abstract
  • A gene family is a set of genes with a known homology. They are generally biochemically similar. Genes are categorized this way into families, depending on shared nucleotide or protein sequences. Phylogenetic techniques can be used as a more rigorous test. The positions of introns within the coding sequence can be used to infer common ancestry. Knowing the sequence of the protein encoded by a gene can allow researchers to apply methods that find similarities among protein sequences that provide more information than similarities or differences among DNA sequences. Furthermore, knowledge of the protein's secondary structure gives further information about ancestry, since the organization of secondary structural elements presumably would be conserved even if the amino acid sequence changes considerably. These methods often rely upon predictions based upon the DNA sequence. If the genes of a gene family encode proteins, the term protein family is often used in an analogous manner to gene family. The expansion or contraction of gene families along a specific lineage can be due to chance, or can be the result of natural selection. To distinguish between these two cases is often difficult in practice. Recent work uses a combination of statistical models and algorithmic techniques to detect gene families that are under the effect of natural selection. The Evolution of Mammalian Gene Families
  • Una familia génica o familia multigénica es un grupo de loci cromosómicos cuya secuencia de nucleótidos es similar y que derivan de una secuencia común ancestral. En algunos casos, las familias génicas no sólo albergan multitud de copias en el genoma de genes con ligeras diferencias, sino también pseudogenes más variables. Este hecho se explica por una mayor acumulación de mutaciones debido a la menor presión de selección existente sobre una variante génica cuando existe otra copia viable en correcto funcionamiento. Este hecho se considera un método de generación de variabilidad en el caso de las duplicaciones génicas. Por ejemplo, la actina, una proteína clave en las células, si bien está muy conservada en la filogenia, está codificada por una familia multigénica que, en plantas, alberga más de 60 elementos, entre genes y pseudogenes y que, en humanos, posee más de 30.
  • Una famiglia genica è un gruppo di geni che mostrano una certa similarità di sequenza di DNA e derivano tutti da un gene ancestrale comune. L'evento biologico che sta alla base delle famiglie geniche è la duplicazione genica seguita da fenomeni di divergenza. Tra queste famiglie quella più studiata è quella delle globine, i cui geni codificano per le catene polipeptidiche delle emoglobine fetali ed adulte.
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  • December 2007
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  • A gene family is a set of genes with a known homology. They are generally biochemically similar. Genes are categorized this way into families, depending on shared nucleotide or protein sequences. Phylogenetic techniques can be used as a more rigorous test. The positions of introns within the coding sequence can be used to infer common ancestry.
  • Una familia génica o familia multigénica es un grupo de loci cromosómicos cuya secuencia de nucleótidos es similar y que derivan de una secuencia común ancestral. En algunos casos, las familias génicas no sólo albergan multitud de copias en el genoma de genes con ligeras diferencias, sino también pseudogenes más variables.
  • Una famiglia genica è un gruppo di geni che mostrano una certa similarità di sequenza di DNA e derivano tutti da un gene ancestrale comune. L'evento biologico che sta alla base delle famiglie geniche è la duplicazione genica seguita da fenomeni di divergenza. Tra queste famiglie quella più studiata è quella delle globine, i cui geni codificano per le catene polipeptidiche delle emoglobine fetali ed adulte.
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  • Gene family
  • Familia génica
  • Famiglia genica
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