ReviewGenome research2025
De novo gene birth and the conundrum of ORFan genes in bacteria.
Review in Genome research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Identification and Classification of Expressed Orphan Genes, Spurious Orphan Genes, and Conserved Genes in the Human Gut Microbiome.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Emergence and evolution of protein-coding de novo genes.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2026Review
- Something from nothing: The birth of new phage defense genes.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Bacterial genomes are notable in that they contain large numbers of lineage-restricted ("ORFan") genes, which have been postulated to originate from either horizontal transfer, rapid divergence from pre-existing genes, or de novo emergence from noncoding sequences. We assess the body of research that explores each of these hypotheses and demonstrate that the mystery of the origin of bacterial ORFans still remains unresolved. Nonetheless, bacteria offer several unique avenues for research into the process and mechanics of gene birth at a resolution not feasible in other organisms. Both their amenability to experimental evolutionary analysis and their strain-level variation in gene content foster investigations of how noncoding sequences acquire expression and transition into functionality-questions central to the origin of phenotypic novelty.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.