Sequence space (evolution)

In evolutionary biology, sequence space is a way of representing all possible sequences (for a protein, gene or genome). The sequence space has one dimension per amino acid or nucleotide in the sequence leading to highly dimensional spaces.

Most sequences in sequence space have no function, leaving relatively small regions that are populated by naturally occurring genes. Each protein sequence is adjacent to all other sequences that can be reached through a single mutation. It has been estimated that the whole functional protein sequence space has been explored by life on the Earth. Evolution by natural selection can be visualised as the process of sampling nearby sequences in sequence space and moving to any with improved fitness over the current one.