BRCA1 Gene Phylogeny
TreeFam phylogenetic tree
This phylogenetic tree was found in the TreeFam database. From top to bottom, the species are as follows: Pan troglodytes, Homo sapiens, Macaca mulatta, Canis lupus familiaris, Bos taurus, Rattus norvegicus, Mus musculus, Mondelphis domestica, and Gallus gallus. [1,2]
Analysis
TreeFam was the only source that could be used with resources available. This is because the gene sequence is too long for alignments available, and therefore many tree-building programs could not be used. TreeFam allows searches for phylogenetic trees in the database based on the gene of interest. [1,2]
The tree retrieved from TreeFam is consistent with evolutionary trees. The human BRCA1 gene is closest to other primates, especially Pan troglodytes. Moving deeper into the tree, BRCA1 is then closest to other mammalian BRCA1 homologs, then followed by marsupials and birds. The lengths between nodes are also fairly consistent with evolutionary trends.
[1] Li, H., Coghlan, A., Ruan, J., Heriche J.K., Osmotherly, L., Li, R., Liu, T., Zhang, Z., Bolund, L., Wong, G.K.,
Zheng, W., Dehal, P., Wang, J., and Durbin, R. (2006). TreeFam: a curated database of phylogenetic trees and
animal gene families. Nucleic Acid Research, 34. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16381935.
[2] Ruan, J., Li, H., Chen, Z., Coghlan, A., Coin, L.J.M., Guo, Y., Heriche, J., Hu, Y., Kristiansen, K., Li, R., Liu, T.,
Moses, A., Qin, J., Vang, S., Vilella, A.J., Ureta-Vidal, A., Bolund, L., Wang, J., and Durbin, R. (2007). TreeFam:
2008 Update. Nucleic Acid Research Advance Access, December 1, 2007. doi:10.1093/nar/gkm1005.
Site created by Jessica D. Kueck
Genetics 677 Assignment, Spring 2009
University of Wisconsin-Madison
