Many new genes arise by gene duplication but others arise de novo from previously non-transcribed regions. The latter type of genes are “orphans” because they cannot be associated with any other genes by sequence similarity searches. The mechanisms by which orphan genes originate are still poorly understood.
We use comparative genomics and transcriptomics to study orphan genes in different mammalian species. We are presenting the results of our research in three meetings this month:
* I Bionformatics and Computational Biology Meeting from IEC
* GDRE-RA Comparative Genomics Meeting
* 4th Meeting of the Spanish Society of Evolutionary Biology
Update:
Exciting new research on this subject explained at The Scientist.
