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Functional Analogy in Human Metabolism: Enzymes with Different Biological Roles or Functional Redundancy?

ABSTRACT: Since enzymes catalyze almost all chemical reactions that occur in living organisms, it is crucial that genes encoding such activities are correctly identified and functionally characterized. Several studies suggest that the fraction of enzymatic activities in which multiple events of independent origin have taken place during evolution is substantial. However, this topic is still poorly explored, and a comprehensive investigation of the occurrence, distribution, and implications of these events has not been done so far. Fundamental questions, such as how analogous enzymes originate, why so many events of independent origin have apparently occurred during evolution, and what are the reasons for the coexistence in the same organism of distinct enzymatic forms catalyzing the same reaction, remain unanswered. Also, several isofunctional enzymes are still not recognized as nonhomologous, even with substantial evidence indicating different evolutionary histories. In this work, we begin to investigate the biological significance of the cooccurrence of nonhomologous isofunctional enzymes in human metabolism, characterizing functional analogous enzymes identified in metabolic pathways annotated in the human genome. Our hypothesis is that the coexistence of multiple enzymatic forms might not be interpreted as functional redundancy. Instead, these enzymatic forms may be implicated in distinct (and probably relevant) biological roles.

SUBMITTER: Piergiorge RM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5737724 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Functional Analogy in Human Metabolism: Enzymes with Different Biological Roles or Functional Redundancy?

Piergiorge Rafael Mina RM de Miranda Antonio Basílio AB Guimarães Ana Carolina AC Catanho Marcos M

Genome biology and evolution 20170601 6

Since enzymes catalyze almost all chemical reactions that occur in living organisms, it is crucial that genes encoding such activities are correctly identified and functionally characterized. Several studies suggest that the fraction of enzymatic activities in which multiple events of independent origin have taken place during evolution is substantial. However, this topic is still poorly explored, and a comprehensive investigation of the occurrence, distribution, and implications of these events ...[more]

PMID: 28854631

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Dataset Information

Functional Analogy in Human Metabolism: Enzymes with Different Biological Roles or Functional Redundancy?

Publications

Functional Analogy in Human Metabolism: Enzymes with Different Biological Roles or Functional Redundancy?

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