Structural characteristics of natural chimeric genes and their implications for gene design

The natural chimeric gene is a novel gene fused by two or more independent genes. Its discovery extends the classical gene concept that one gene resides in one chromosomal locus. During tumorigenesis, many chimeric genes lead to tumor-related diseases; therefore, it is one molecular marker for cancer diagnosis. In this review, we summarize the research progress of chimeric genes in terms of their feature, structure, transcription, regulation and function. We pinpoint the difficulties and challenges in the current research work, and discuss the application of chimeric gene in the new gene design.