Phylogenetic study of eukaryotic and prokaryotic haemoglobin using PHYLIP

Abstract

Haemoglobins are the most popular and essential protein groups found in wide range of organisms. The gene encoding haemoglobin is thus very old, going back to the ancestor common to essentially all life on this earth. Their phylogenetic analysis seems to be very crucial from the perspective of evolutionary knowledge and preparation of phylogenetic tree. Clustal W is a popularly used multiple sequence alignment algorithm. This study intends to draw a phylogenetic tree with amino acid sequences of the protein haemoglobin of selected species and thereafter study their phylogenetic relationship. Haemoglobin molecule found ubiquitously in plants, animals and microbes were analysed using PHYLIP software to estimate the relationships among the taxa and their hypothetical common ancestor. The analysis involved 22 amino acid sequences of haemoglobin from two bacteria, two fungus, four animals and 16 plants. This is a comparatively simpler method for the construction of phylogenetic tree. The results are encouraging and more promising in larger sets. Further scopes for the development of various algorithm in this line of study for future are also possible.