Current Trends in Pseudogene Detection and Characterization

Title: Current Trends in Pseudogene Detection and Characterization

Volume: 4 Issue: 2

Author(s): Eric Christian Rouchka and I. Elizabeth Cha

Affiliation:

Keywords: Pseudogene, gene prediction, disabled pseudogenes, processed pseudogenes, duplicated pseudogenes

Abstract: Pseudogenes are homologous relatives of known genes that have lost their ability to function as a transcriptional unit. Three classes of pseudogenes are known to exist: duplicated pseudogenes; processed or retrotransposed pseudogenes; and unitary or disabled pseudogenes. Since pseudogenes may display a number of the characteristics of functional genes, they pose a unique set of problems for ab initio gene prediction. The ability to detect and differentiate pseudogenes from functional genes can be a difficult task. We present a comprehensive review of current approaches for pseudogene detection, highlighting difficulties in pseudogene differentiation.

Cite this article as:

Rouchka Christian Eric and Cha Elizabeth I., Current Trends in Pseudogene Detection and Characterization, Current Bioinformatics 2009; 4 (2) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/157489309788184792