Several authors have found that gymnosperms, including Pinaceae, share a low substitution rate compared to angiosperms. In contrast, we report this paper a remarkable high level of gene turnover (the sum of gene duplication and gene loss events) in Pinaceae. We also show how gene turnover rates can be reliably estimated when gene annotation is still preliminary, as is the case in sequenced Pinaceae genomes. Kudos to former postdoc Tomasz Koralewski for his fundamental contribution to this study!