The emergence of new genes is often caused by the duplication or the fusion of ancestral genes. On their own, these mechanisms cannot explain the observation of species-specific genes and seemingly unrelated gene families. Recent studies have revealed cases of gene birth from non-genic ancestral DNA in various Eukaryotes. Such de novo gene birth may complement other mechanisms in the explanation of gene content variation between species. However, this phenomenon requires that regions of non-genic DNA acquire transcription and, in the case of protein-coding genes, translation. The roles played by cellular and populational processes in de novo gene birth are not yet well understood. We hypothesize that it is mainly driven by selectively neutral mutations generating and disrupting non-functional occurrences of sequence elements involved in transcription and translation. To test this hypothesis, we are using published data from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to assess the impact of mutations on the boundaries of transcribed and translated regions. As a first model, we are examining the evolution of transcriptional initiation and termination following the yeast whole genome duplication. Our results will clarify the impact of neutral evolutionary forces on eukaryotic transcripts, an important component of their potential as a raw material for de novo gene birth.