Topic summary
Multiprotein complex
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Protein complex.
Evolutionary significance of multiprotein complex assembly
In homomultimeric complexes, the homomeric proteins assemble in a way that mimics evolution. That is, an intermediate in the assembly process is present in the complex's evolutionary history. The opposite phenomenon is observed in heteromultimeric complexes, where gene fusion occurs in a manner that preserves the original assembly pathway.