Origin and evolution of new genes

Organisms have variable genome sizes and contain different numbers of genes. This difference demon-strates that new gene origination is a fundamental process in evolutionary biology. Though the study of the origination of new genes dated back more than half a century ago, it is not until the 1990s when the first young gene jingwei was found that empirical investigation of the molecular mechanisms of origination of new genes became possible. In the recent years, several young genes were identified and the studies on these genes have greatly enriched the knowledge of this field. Yet more details in a general picture of new genes origination are to be clarified. We have developed a systematic approach to searching for young genes at the genomic level, in the hope to summarize a general pattern of the origination and evolution of new genes, such as the rate of new gene appearance, im-pact of new genes on their host genomes, etc.