Journal
TRENDS IN GENETICS
Volume 23, Issue 5, Pages 219-224Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE LONDON
DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2007.03.003
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Funding
- NHGRI NIH HHS [1U01HG003156, P50 HG02357] Funding Source: Medline
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Pseudogenes have long been considered to be 'dead', nonfunctional by-products of genome evolution. However, several lines of evidence now show that some pseudogenes are transcriptionally 'alive', and a few might even have biochemical roles. Therefore, the boundary between genes (often considered to be 'living') and pseudogenes (often considered to be 'dead') might be ambiguous and difficult to define. Here, we examine the evidence for and against pseudogene functionality, and we argue that the time is ripe for revising the definition of a pseudogene. Furthermore, we suggest a classification system to accommodate pseudogenes with various levels of functionality.
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