Finding orthologue candidates using reciprocal BLASTs

In genomics, orthology refers to the relationship between genes from different species that evolved from a common ancestral gene through speciation. Orthologous genes typically have the same function and structure and play similar roles in different organisms, even if they have diverged over time.

Orthology has many important uses in bioinformatics. Orthology can be used to infer the function of a gene in a newly sequenced genome based on its similarity to known genes in other species. This can be especially useful for identifying genes that are involved in specific biological processes or pathways. Orthologous genes can be used to compare the genomes of different organisms and study the evolution of gene families. By identifying which genes are conserved across different species, researchers can gain insights into the evolutionary history of those genes and the organisms that carry them.

Orthology can be inferred using various...