Pseudogenes: Secret Weapon of Evolution

“Pseudogenes” (literally “false genes”) are generally viewed as sequences in genomes that, though they have high sequence similarity to “real” genes, do not have a function. Historically they were found before the advent of whole-genome sequencing as alternate forms of genes that lacked certain features. Some pseudogenes have characteristics that indicate they are derived from “real” genes – a class of pseudogenes called processed pseudogenes. In this post we’ll discuss the mechanism by which processed pseudogenes arise, and then discuss how a small fraction of them pick up functions and become “real” themselves.