Pseudogenes and their composers: delving in the 'debris' of human genome

Abstract

Pseudogenes, the nonfunctional homologs of functional genes and thus exemplified as 'genomic fossils' provide intriguing snapshots of the evolutionary history of human genome. These defunct copies generally arise by retrotransposition or duplication followed by various genetic disablements. In this study, focusing on human pseudogenes and their functional homologues we describe their characteristic features and relevance to protein sequence evolution. We recapitulate that pseudogenes harbor disease-causing degenerative sequence variations in conjunction with the immense disease gene association of their progenitors. Furthermore, we also discuss the issue of functional resurrection and the potentiality observed in some pseudogenes to regulate their functional counterparts.

Keywords: disease genes; evolutionary rate; human genome; pseudogenes.