# Constructive Neutral Evolution

**URL:** <https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/constructive-neutral-evolution/4675>\
**Category:** Conversation\
**Tags:** Science\
**Created:** [February 20, 2019, 5:31am UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/constructive-neutral-evolution/4675 "2019-02-20T05:31:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 66

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**Author:** ![Rumraket](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.peacefulscience.org/rumraket/32/9328_2.png) [@Rumraket](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/u/Rumraket)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2020, 11:49pm UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/constructive-neutral-evolution/4675/66 "2020-06-19T23:49:13Z")

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> [@ETVB](#):
>
> The only part I’m not sure I follow, is how dead genes (now junk) can form entirely new functions. I’d love to see the details on how this is envisioned.

For some reason I didn’t notice this last part of your post earlier. There was a thread devoted to a recent review article discussing what is currently known about mechanisms of so-called de novo gene evolution here:

> [@New review of de novo gene birth](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/new-review-of-de-novo-gene-birth/6384):
>
> PLoS Genetics has a nice, new review of what is known about the evolution of de novo genes, which seems to be a topical of perennial interest here. [De novo gene birth](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1008160) De novo gene birth is the process by which new [genes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene) evolve from DNA sequences that were ancestrally non-genic. De novo genes represent a subset of novel genes, and may be protein-coding or instead act as RNA genes [[1](https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1008160#pgen.1008160.ref001)]. The processes that govern de novo gene birth ( [Fig 1A](https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1008160#pgen-1008160-g001) ) are not well understood, though several models exist that describe possible mechanisms by which de novo gene birth may occur. Although de novo gene birth may have occurred at any point in an organism’s evolutionary history, ancient de novo gene birth events are difficult to detect. Most studies of de novo genes to date have thus focused on young genes, typically taxonomically-restricted genes (TRGs) that are present in a single species or lineage, including so-called [orphan genes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_gene), defined as genes that lack any identifiable homolog. I…

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