page_title: Domain of unknown function
section_title: Frequency and conservation
hierarchical_section_title: Domain of unknown function / Frequency and conservation
caption_attribution_description: English: Protein domain repertoires of the 4 superkingdoms of life. Left: Annotated domains. Right: domains of unknown function. Not all overlaps shown. Based on PFAM v26 and Goodacre et al. 2014, mBio 5 (1): e00744-13, doi:10.1128/mBio.00744-13.
context_page_description: A domain of unknown function is a protein domain that has no characterised function. These families have been collected together in the Pfam database using the prefix DUF followed by a number, with examples being DUF2992 and DUF1220. As of 2019, there are almost 4,000 DUF families within the Pfam database representing over 22% of known families. Some DUFs are not named using the nomenclature due to popular usage but are nevertheless DUFs.
  The DUF designation is tentative, and such families tend to be renamed to a more specific name after a function is identified.
context_section_description: More than 20% of all protein domains were annotated as DUFs in 2013. About 2,700 DUFs are found in bacteria compared with just over 1,500 in eukaryotes. Over 800 DUFs are shared between bacteria and eukaryotes, and about 300 of these are also present in archaea. A total of 2,786 bacterial Pfam domains even occur in animals, including 320 DUFs.
caption: Protein domains and DUFs in different domains of life. Left: Annotated domains. Right: domains of unknown function. Not all overlaps shown.[7]
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