Same function-diverse structures

[Susan Jane Hogarth]

FABIAN MOEBIUS wrote:
> 
> Dear netters,
> I am in search for example of proteins which have the same function
> e.g. catalyze identical  biochemical reactions but are structurally
> UNRELATED with respect to their primary structure AND/OR topology. My
> interest is focussed on membrane proteins. I am also interested in
> the evolutional aspect involved.

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but last semester in an
evolution course we discussed crystallins, which are lens proteins. They
appear to be *very* structurally diverse (although they all have in
common a globular shape...) and appear to have been "recruited" from
common metabolic pathways. It appears that eyes evolved after seperately
many times, and that different proteins were used in "creating" a lens.
Very interesting stuff. If you're interested, and can't easily find any
info, I could dig out some refs for you. I've pretty much told you
everything *I* know about the subject ;-)
-- 
Susan 

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