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pseudogene

pseudogene

1 9.3
A part of DNA that looks like a gene but does not make a working protein
  • noun
  • /ˈsuːdəʊˌdʒiːn/
  • Specialized
: pseudogén
  • A pseudogene is a segment of DNA that closely resembles a functional gene but does not produce a protein.

Examples

  • In most cases, such transferred fragments undergo rapid non-functionalization through pseudogene formation and DNA deletion and exhibit very low levels of transcription (37, 65).

    Academic text (2018)
  • The POU5F1B pseudogene is amplified and expressed at a high level in gastric cancer cells and confers an aggressive phenotype in gastric cancer patients.

    Academic text (2016)
  • Thus, targeting the expression of NANOG, but especially its pseudogene in cancer cells, might be of highly interesting future therapeutic value.

    Academic text (2016)
  • In an increasingly industrialized world, smell is probably even less important than it was in the past, so olfactory pseudogenes may become even more common.

    Academic text (2002)
  • Recently, it was reported that NANOG and its pseudogene NANOGP8 contribute to the high malignant potential of prostate cancer.

    Academic text (2016)
  • And unless other mutations delete these pseudogenes from the genome, they simply linger, passed down from parent to offspring.

    Academic text (2002)
  • Known as "pseudogenes," these segments of DNA are the mutated relics of genes that once encoded proteins.

    Academic text (2001)
  • Known as pseudogenes, these ruined stretches of DNA are an inevitable by-product of the fast-paced evolution of smell in mammals.

    Academic text (2002)
  • It was shown recently that Oct4 variants and pseudogenes are differentially expressed in normal urothelium and urothelial cancer 66.

    Academic text (2016)
  • Most of it is satellite repeat sequences, but in between the satellites, there are hundreds of thousands of truncated genes and pseudogenes, all of them in a constant state of cross-generational flux because of transposon activity.

    Fiction book (2000)

Surface Forms

pseudogene singular
pseudogenes plural

Morphology

pseudogene = gene (semi-transparent) = pseudo + gene

The meaning is directly compositional: a pseudogene is literally a 'false' or nonfunctional gene.

Etymology

Pseudogene combines pseudo- from an old Greek word meaning 'false' and gene, so it literally means 'false gene'. Think of pseudonym, which means 'false name', because a pseudogene looks like a real gene but does not make a working protein, so it is called 'false'.