Protein sequence space for a biological function

Gold and red lines stretch out to enter a green patch, centered inside a larger blue area on a large white box. The image presents a visual representation (not-to-scale) of possible protein sequence spaces.

An abstract, not-to-scale visual representation of different protein sequence spaces. A large box represents all possible amino acid sequences (approximately 20L number of combinations, where L is the chain length). A smaller blue patch represents the sequences which create functional proteins, and an even smaller green area shows the sequences which we have historically confirmed to exist. Gold-colored lines show protein evolution pathways, with red paths describing evolutionary lines describing extinct pathways (i.e. those that aren’t thought to be present in modern biodiversity).

Date:
30 March 2026
Credit:
Isakova et al

Copyright OIST (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, 沖縄科学技術大学院大学). Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

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