Network analysis of pseudogene-gene relationships: from pseudogene evolution to their functional potentials.

ABSTRACT: Pseudogenes are fossil relatives of genes. Pseudogenes have long been thought of as "junk DNAs", since they do not code proteins in normal tissues. Although most of the human pseudogenes do not have noticeable functions, ∼20% of them exhibit transcriptional activity. There has been evidence showing that some pseudogenes adopted functions as lncRNAs and work as regulators of gene expression. Furthermore, pseudogenes can even be "reactivated" in some conditions, such as cancer initiation. Some pseudogenes are transcribed in specific cancer types, and some are even translated into proteins as observed in several cancer cell lines. All the above have shown that pseudogenes could have functional roles or potentials in the genome. Evaluating the relationships between pseudogenes and their gene c

SUBMITTER: Johnson TS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5744670 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature