Paralog search

What is the relevance of genome sequences to the search for biocatalytically applicable enzymes At least two different avenues, in this context called ortholog search and paralog search have the potential to yield results that are immediately useful. 

A more demanding problem in the bioinformatic mining of genome sequences is the search for truly novel enzymes. A possible starting point would be the knowledge that a particular organism possesses an enzyme with the desired specificity, while the corresponding protein sequence is elusive. In order to address this type of 

Since paralogs are typically more distantly related than orthologs, their detection frequently requires sensitive protein comparison methods such as profiles or HMMs. Even the detection of orthologs can, under some circumstances, require sophisticated database searching methods, e.g. if the corresponding organisms belong to very distant phyla. 

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