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Finding "corresponding" genes
How to identify “corresponding” genes across species
Genes in two species that originated from the same ancestral gene in the last common ancestor of the species are good candidates for being 'corresponding' genes (orthologs)
Orthologs are genes in two species that are mutually most similar to each other
Analysis
In this course, we will follow the steps of a comparative genomics analysis of plant cell wall degrading enzymes (PCDs). Plant cell walls are made up of cellulose and hemi-cellulose, making them two of the most common organic molecules on Earth and key components of the carbon cycle.
It was thought for a long time that PCDs are only produced by fungi and certain bacteria, but in recent years, evidence has accumulated that some invertebrate animals may be able to degrade plant cell walls as well.
To find out how widespread the ability to degrade plant cell wall, really is Tran et al. (2025) traced the distribution of 235 potential PCDs across all eukaryotic datasets available in the RefSeq database.
Task 1: Exploration
- Explore the results generated by Tran et al. (2025) using this interactive web-viewer
- Wait a moment for the data to load. Once you were redirected to the “Main profile” page, select a taxonomic rank and click the red PLOT button.