The term 'silent' gene may appear as a phantom metaphor, but is now used as a technical term:
"Silent genes are DNA sequences that are generally not expressed or expressed at a very low level. These genes become active as a result of mutation, recombination, or insertion. Silent genes can also be activated in laboratory conditions using pleiotropic, targeted genome-wide, or biosynthetic gene cluster approaches."
Stasiak M, Maćkiw E, Kowalska J, Kucharek K, Postupolski J. Silent Genes: Antimicrobial Resistance and Antibiotic Production. Pol J Microbiol. 2021 Dec;70(4):421-429. doi: 10.33073/pjm-2021-040.
