The importance of gene duplication in supplying raw genetic material to biological evolution
has been recognized since the 1930s. Recent genomic sequence data provide substantial …

There are few molecular fossils: with the rare exception of DNA fragments preserved in
amber, ice or peat, no physical remnants preserve the intermediate forms that existed during …

The degree to which an amino acid site is free to vary is strongly dependent on its structural
and functional importance. An amino acid that plays an essential role is unlikely to change …

Abstract The interface of protein structural biology, protein biophysics, molecular evolution,
and molecular population genetics forms the foundations for a mechanistic understanding of …

A central goal in molecular evolution is to understand the ways in which genes and proteins
evolve in response to changing environments. In the absence of intact DNA from fossils …

The tailoring of existing genetic systems to new uses is called genetic co-option.
Mechanisms of genetic co-option have been difficult to study because of difficulties in …

DIVERGE is a software system for phylogeny-based analyses of protein family evolution and
functional divergence. It provides a suite of statistical tools for selection and prioritization of …

Steroids are components of the eukaryotic cellular membrane and have indispensable roles
in the process of eukaryotic endocytosis by regulating membrane fluidity and permeability. In …

Background Expansin loosens plant cell walls and involves in cell enlargement and various
abiotic stresses. Plant expansin superfamily contains four subfamilies: α-expansin (EXPA), β …

Predicting functional amino acid residues in silico is important for comparative genomics. In
this paper, we focus on the issue of how to statistically identify cluster-specific amino acid …