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Updated: Sep 26, 2025

An Integrated Approach for Microprotein Identification and Sequence Analysis
Published on: July 12, 2022
The Origins and Functions of De Novo Genes: Against All Odds?
1Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA. cweisman@princeton.edu.
Abstract:
"De novo" genes evolve from previously non-genic DNA. This strikes many of us as remarkable, because it seems extraordinarily unlikely that random sequence would produce a functional gene. How is this possible? In this two-part review, I first summarize what is known about the origins and molecular functions of the small number of de novo genes for which such information is available. I then speculate on what these examples may tell us about how de novo genes manage to emerge despite what seem like enormous opposing odds.
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