ortologiczne

Ortologiczne is a term used in biology, particularly in genetics and evolutionary biology, to describe genes or proteins that are descended from a common ancestral gene or protein through speciation. Essentially, these are genes or proteins found in different species that have a shared evolutionary origin. The process by which these related genes arise is called speciation, where a single ancestral population splits into two or more reproductively isolated groups, leading to the divergence of their genetic material over time.

Identifying orthologs is crucial for understanding gene function and evolutionary relationships. Because orthologs generally retain similar functions across different species, studying a well-characterized ortholog in one organism can provide insights into the function of its counterpart in another. This comparative approach is a cornerstone of functional genomics and has been instrumental in annotating genomes and deciphering complex biological pathways. Databases and computational tools are widely used to predict and analyze orthologous relationships. The concept of orthology is distinct from paralogy, which refers to genes that arose from gene duplication within a single genome.