Synteny is like looking at the order of genes in different species to see if they're in the same order, helping us understand how genes are arranged in genomes across different organisms.
Multiple Sequence Alignment (MSA), on the other hand, is about comparing the actual sequences of genes or proteins to find similarities or differences, helping us understand how these sequences relate to each other.
In summary, synteny looks at the "gene order," while MSA looks at the "gene or sequence similarities." Both are useful but focus on different aspects of genetics and genomics.