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The term "homology" was first used in biology by the anatomist Richard Owen in 1843 when studying the similarities of vertebrate fins and limbs, defining it as the "same organ in different animals under every variety of form and function", [6] and contrasting it with the matching term "analogy" which he used to describe different structures ...
Sequence homology is the biological homology between DNA, RNA, or protein sequences, defined in terms of shared ancestry in the evolutionary history of life. Two segments of DNA can have shared ancestry because of three phenomena: either a speciation event (orthologs), or a duplication event (paralogs), or else a horizontal (or lateral) gene ...
Homology (biology), any characteristic of biological organisms that is derived from a common ancestor Sequence homology , biological homology between DNA, RNA, or protein sequences Homologous chromosomes , chromosomes in a biological cell that pair up (synapse) during meiosis
Homology and analogy in mammals and insects: on the horizontal axis, the structures are homologous in morphology, but different in function due to differences in habitat. On the vertical axis, the structures are analogous in function due to similar lifestyles but anatomically different with different phylogeny .
An example of a 20th-century comparative anatomist is Victor Negus, who worked on the structure and evolution of the larynx. Until the advent of genetic techniques like DNA sequencing , comparative anatomy together with embryology were the primary tools for understanding phylogeny , as exemplified by the work of Alfred Romer .
The most well-studied example is the Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, which independently evolved at the same positions regardless of the underlying sublineage. [270] The most ominent examples from the pre-Omicron era were E484K and N501Y, while in the Omicron era examples include R493Q, R346X, N444X, L452X, N460X, F486X, and F490X.
Ecological evolutionary developmental biology [c] integrates research from developmental biology and ecology to examine their relationship with evolutionary theory. [78] Researchers study concepts and mechanisms such as developmental plasticity, epigenetic inheritance, genetic assimilation, niche construction and symbiosis. [79] [80]
Homoplasy, in biology and phylogenetics, is the term used to describe a feature that has been gained or lost independently in separate lineages over the course of evolution. This is different from homology, which is the term used to characterize the similarity of features that can be parsimoniously explained by common ancestry. [1]