Small nuclear ribonucleoprotein pseudogene

Small nuclear ribonucleoprotein pseudogenes are DNA sequences that originate from the retrotransposition or duplication of functional small nuclear ribonucleoprotein (snRNP) genes but have lost the ability to encode functional snRNP proteins or RNAs due to mutations, truncations, or lack of regulatory elements[1][3][5]. These pseudogenes often contain hallmarks such as absence of intronic regions, presence of polyadenylic tracts, and flanking direct repeats, and result from retrotransposon activity—often via LINE-1 (L1) machinery[1]. While they may serve as markers of retrotranspositional activity and evolutionary history, they have no known canonical biological function, are not part of the active spliceosomal machinery, and are not considered drug targets or disease genes.

Other names

Small nuclear ribonucleoprotein pseudogeneSNRP pseudogeneSNRPB pseudogeneSNRPE pseudogeneSNRPGP15 (for specific pseudogene loci)