The birth of genes from scratch
A new review in Nature Reviews Genetics synthesizes the current understanding of how entirely new, protein-coding genes can emerge from non-coding DNA sequences. The authors detail the identification methods, the evolutionary mechanisms that allow these “de novo” genes to arise and persist, and the structural characteristics of the novel proteins they encode.
Why it might matter to you:
This framework for understanding de novo gene birth provides a crucial evolutionary context for interpreting novel protein sequences and interactions identified in proteomic screens. It suggests that the functional protein-protein interaction networks you study may include recently evolved components, which could have implications for understanding adaptive immune responses and disease-specific protein functions in precision immunology.
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