  We analyze the gauge unification in minimal supersymmetric SO(10) grand
unified theories in 5 dimensions. The single extra spatial dimension is
compactified on the orbifold S^1/(Z_2 x Z_2') reducing the gauge group to that
of Pati-Salam SU(4)_c x SU(2)_L x SU(2)_R. The Standard Model gauge group is
achieved by the further brane-localized Higgs mechanism on one of the fixed
points. There are two main different approaches developed in literature. Higgs
mechanism can take place on the Pati Salam brane, or on the SO(10) preserving
brane. We show, both analytically and numerically, that in the first case a
natural and succesfull gauge coupling unification can be achieved, while the
second case is highly disfavoured. For completeness, we consider either the
case in which the brane breaking scale is near the cutoff scale or the case in
which it is lower than the compactification scale.
