In biochemistry, a hypothetical protein is a protein whose existence has been predicted, but for which there is a lack of experimental evidence that it is expressed in vivo. Sequencing of several genomes has resulted in numerous predicted open reading frames to which functions cannot be readily assigned. These proteins, either orphan or conserved hypothetical proteins, make up ~ 20% to 40% of proteins encoded in each newly sequenced genome.[1] Even when there is enough evidence that the product of the gene is expressed, by techniques such as microarray and mass-spectrometry, it is difficult to assign a function to it given its lack of identity to protein sequences with annotated biochemical function.