Bioinformatics: We Can Learn a Lot from Other Species

ScienceDaily (May 17, 2012) — Researchers at the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and the EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute have confirmed the long-held belief that studying the genes we share with other animals is useful. The study, published May 17 in the open access journal PLoS Computational Biology, shows how bioinformatics makes it possible to test the fundamental principles on which life science is built.

Studying genes helps life science researchers understand how our bodies work and how diseases progress. Scientists have long looked to model species -- mice, for example -- to understand human biology. This is at the root of what is called the 'ortholog conjecture': the idea that we can take what we learn from a few species and apply it to many.

The ortholog conjecture

To get an idea of what orthologs are about, consider wolf teeth. If we want to know more about our canine teeth, would we learn more by looking at the canines of wolves? Or would it be better to look at our molars? The answer might not be straightforward. In genetics, scientists address a similar question: Is it better to compare genes in mice and humans that directly descend from a common ancestor (these are called 'orthologs') -- or to compare imperfect copies of genes within a human being (the 'paralogs')?

Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120517192929.htm