Current Trends in Pseudogene Detection and Characterization
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Eric Rouchka; I. Cha
- Source
- Current Bioinformatics. 4:112-119
- Subject
- Genetics
Computational Mathematics
Pseudogene
Gene prediction
Functional genes
Computational biology
Biology
Molecular Biology
Biochemistry
Gene
Function (biology)
- Language
- ISSN
- 1574-8936
Pseudogenes are homologous relatives of known genes that have lost their ability to function as a transcrip- tional unit. Three classes of pseudogenes are known to exist: duplicated pseudogenes; processed or retrotransposed pseu- dogenes; and unitary or disabled pseudogenes. Since pseudogenes may display a number of the characteristics of func- tional genes, they pose a unique set of problems for ab initio gene prediction. The ability to detect and differentiate pseu- dogenes from functional genes can be a difficult task. We present a comprehensive review of current approaches for pseu- dogene detection, highlighting difficulties in pseudogene differentiation.