# Clade specific marker gene

**URL:** <https://forum.biobakery.org/t/clade-specific-marker-gene/2622>\
**Category:** MetaPhlAn\
**Created:** [September 21, 2021, 6:23am UTC](https://forum.biobakery.org/t/clade-specific-marker-gene/2622 "2021-09-21T06:23:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![saras22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@saras22](https://forum.biobakery.org/u/saras22)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2021, 6:23am UTC](https://forum.biobakery.org/t/clade-specific-marker-gene/2622/1 "2021-09-21T06:23:52Z")

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Hi @fbeghini  
I had a question in my mind that is there only one clade-specific marker gene for a single clade or there can be more than one clade specific marker genes that can be used to identify a particular clade/organism?

Thanks in Advance  
Saraswati Awasthi

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**Author:** ![fbeghini](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/forum.biobakery.org/fbeghini/32/81_2.png) [@fbeghini](https://forum.biobakery.org/u/fbeghini)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 1:25pm UTC](https://forum.biobakery.org/t/clade-specific-marker-gene/2622/2 "2021-12-03T13:25:55Z")

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MetaPhlAn 3 uses up to 150 markers to identify species. The number of clade-specific (or unique) markers is variable across all the species.