Gene Families: Multigene Families and Superfamilies

Tomoko Ohta, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Japan

Published online: March 2008

DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0005126.pub2

Multigene families are defined as groups of genes with sequence homology and related overlapping functions, whereas superfamilies are defined as a group of proteins or genes of common origin with nonoverlapping functions. If a group of proteins or genes contains a domain of common origin, it is a superfamily; a protein or a gene may belong to two or more superfamilies.

Keywords: gene diversity; gene duplication; gene redundancy; genetic variability; gene regulation

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Related Sub-Topics:

Evolutionary Genomics | Molecular Evolution | Protein Evolution | Evolution of Coding and Functional Modules
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Article Title: Gene Families: Multigene Families and Superfamilies
 
How to Cite close
Ohta, Tomoko(Mar 2008) Gene Families: Multigene Families and Superfamilies. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0005126.pub2]