Pseudocopy

This could reflect the presence of only one bona fide copy of the element and one pseudocopy, assuming that the latter is mutated to an extent preventing adequate primer binding but allowing detection by hybridization.

In order to make even a pseudocopy of a gene, a dozen sophisticated proteins are required: to pry apart the two DNA strands, to align the copying machinery at the right place, to stitch the nucleotides together into a string, to insert the pseudocopy back into the DNA, and much more.

The disrupted pseudogene is in the mouse a pseudocopy of a gene of unknown function, called makorin 1.