Phylogenetic tree construction for 25 sequenced members of the LacI-GalR family (LGF) of transcription factors revealed that almost all branches are similar in length, radiating essentially from a single point. This observation suggests that most of these proteins arose by duplication events which occurred at a specific time in evolutionary history, and that further duplication events were rare. Analyses of the multiple alignment of the LGF proteins lead to suggestions regarding structure-function relationships and reveal that the helix-turn-helix DNA-binding motif of LGF proteins is similar in sequence to those of numerous non-homologous DNA-binding proteins.