Open questions in the study of de novo genes: what, how and why

• Published in: Nature reviews. Genetics Vol. 17; no. 9; pp. 567 - 578
• Main Authors: McLysaght, Aoife, Hurst, Laurence D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.09.2016; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/181; 631/181/735; 631/208/191; 631/208/212; Agriculture; Amino acid sequencing; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Bias; Biomedicine; Cancer Research; Evolution; Evolution, Molecular; Gene Function; Genes; Genetic research; Genomes; Genomics - methods; Genotypes; Human Genetics; Humans; Identification and classification; Methods; Open Reading Frames - genetics; opinion-2; Phylogeny; Proteins; Proteins - genetics; Proteins - metabolism

In this Opinion article, the authors discuss important questions relating to the study of de novo genes. They discuss the challenges of identifying de novo genes, understanding how they originate and why they spread, and propose that antagonistic evolution may have a key role in their evolution. The...