Homology (biology)

In the context of biology, homology is the existence of shared ancestry between a pair of structures, or genes, in different species. A common example of homologous structures in evolutionary biology are the wings of bats and the arms of primates. Evolutionary theory explains the existence of homologous structures adapted to different purposes as the result of descent with modification from a common ancestor.

In the context of sexual differentiation—the process of development of the differences between males and females from an undifferentiated fertilized egg—the male and female organs are homologous if they develop from the same embryonic tissue. A typical example is the ovaries of female humans and the testicles of male humans.

Etymology

The word homology, coined in about 1656, derives from the Greek ὁμόλογος homologos from ὁμός homos "same" and λόγος logos "relation". In biology, two things are homologous if they bear the same relationship to one another, such as a certain bone in various forms of the "hand". The alternative term homogeny was also used in the early 1900s.

Homology (chemistry)

In chemistry, homology refers to the appearance of homologues. A homologue (also spelled as homolog) is a compound belonging to a series of compounds differing from each other by a repeating unit, such as a methylene bridge −CH
2−, a peptide residue, etc.

A homolog is a special case of an analog. Examples are alkanes and compounds with alkyl side chains of different length (the repeating unit being a methylene group -CH₂-).

Periodic table

On the periodic table, homologous elements share many electrochemical properties and appear in the same group (column) of the table. For example, all noble gases are colorless, monatomic gases with very low reactivity. These similarities are due to similar structure in their outer shells of valence electrons. Mendeleev used the prefix eka- for an unknown element below a known one in the same group.

See also

References