Open AccessThe journey to smORFland
Author(s) -
Davids Wagied,
Fuxelius HansHenrik,
Andersson Siv G. E.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
comparative and functional genomics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1532-6268
pISSN - 1531-6912
DOI - 10.1002/cfg.325
Subject(s) - pseudogene , gene , genome , biology , genetics , gene duplication , computational biology , evolutionary biology
The genome sequences completed so far contain more than 20 000 genes with unknown function and no similarity to genes in other genomes. The origin and evolution of the orphan genes is an enigma. Here, we discuss the suggestion that some orphan genes may represent pseudogenes or short fragments of genes that were functional in the genome of a common ancestor. These may be the remains of unsuccessful duplication or horizontal gene transfer events, in which the acquired sequences have entered the fragmentation process and thereby lost their similarity to genes in other species. This scenario is supported by a recent case study of orphan genes in several closely related species of Rickettsia , where full‐length ancestral genes were reconstructed from sets of short, overlapping orphan genes. One of these was found to display similarity to genes encoding proteins with ankyrin‐repeat domains. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.