Department of Computational and Systems Biology, School of Medicine, Pittsburgh Center for Evolutionary Biology and Evolution, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Yeast. 2022 Sep;39(9):471-481. doi: 10.1002/yea.3810. Epub 2022 Aug 24.
De novo gene birth is the process by which new genes emerge in sequences that were previously noncoding. Over the past decade, researchers have taken advantage of the power of yeast as a model and a tool to study the evolutionary mechanisms and physiological implications of de novo gene birth. We summarize the mechanisms that have been proposed to explicate how noncoding sequences can become protein-coding genes, highlighting the discovery of pervasive translation of the yeast transcriptome and its presumed impact on evolutionary innovation. We summarize current best practices for the identification and characterization of de novo genes. Crucially, we explain that the field is still in its nascency, with the physiological roles of most young yeast de novo genes identified thus far still utterly unknown. We hope this review inspires researchers to investigate the true contribution of de novo gene birth to cellular physiology and phenotypic diversity across yeast strains and species.
从头基因产生是指新基因在先前无编码序列中出现的过程。在过去的十年中，研究人员利用酵母作为模型和工具的优势，研究了从头基因产生的进化机制和生理意义。我们总结了已经提出的解释非编码序列如何成为蛋白质编码基因的机制，强调了酵母转录组普遍翻译的发现及其对进化创新的推测影响。我们总结了目前鉴定和表征从头基因的最佳实践。至关重要的是，我们解释说该领域仍处于起步阶段，迄今为止，大多数新发现的酵母从头基因的生理作用仍然完全未知。我们希望这篇综述能激励研究人员研究从头基因产生对酵母菌株和物种细胞生理学和表型多样性的真正贡献。
