Ancestral sequence reconstruction (ASR) – also known as ancestral gene/sequence reconstruction/resurrection – is a technique used in the study of molecular evolution. The method uses related sequences to reconstruct an "ancestral" gene from a multiple sequence alignment.[1]
The method can be used to 'resurrect' ancestral proteins and was suggested in 1963 by Linus Pauling and Emile Zuckerkandl.[2] In the case of enzymes, this approach has been called paleoenzymology (British: palaeoenzymology). Some early efforts were made in the 1980s and 1990s, led by the laboratory of Steven A. Benner, showing the potential of this technique.[3] Thanks to the improvement of algorithms and of better sequencing and synthesis techniques, the method was developed further in the early 2000s to allow the resurrection of a greater variety of and much more ancient genes.[4] Over the last decade, ancestral protein resurrection has developed as a strategy to reveal the mechanisms and dynamics of protein evolution.[5]
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