Pseudogenes

Patent Pending Pseudogenes are dysfunctional relatives of genes that have lost their protein-coding ability or are otherwise no longer expressed in the cell.[1] Pseudogenes often result from the accumulation of multiple mutations within a gene whose product is not required for the survival of the organism. Although not protein-coding, the DNA of pseudogenes may be functional,[2] similar to other kinds of non-coding DNA which can have a regulatory role.