Genomic Mid-Range Inhomogeneity and RNA Secondary Structures
Author Information
Author(s): Jason M Bechtel, Thomas Wittenschlaeger, Trisha Dwyer, Jun Song, Sasi Arunachalam, Sadeesh K Ramakrishnan, Samuel Shepard, Alexei Fedorov
Primary Institution: University of Toledo Health Science Campus
Hypothesis
Does mid-range inhomogeneity in genomic sequences correlate with the abundance of RNA secondary structures?
Conclusion
The study shows that strong local RNA secondary structures are significantly associated with mid-range inhomogeneity in mammalian genomes.
Supporting Evidence
- The abundance of strong local RNA secondary structures was found to be two to ten times greater than expected by random models.
- Mid-range inhomogeneity was observed in nucleotide compositions over distances of 30 to 1000 nucleotides.
- The study created a public computational resource to support further research on genomic mid-range inhomogeneity.
Takeaway
This study found that certain patterns in DNA can help RNA form strong structures, which are important for how genes work.
Methodology
A whole-genome bioinformatics investigation of local RNA secondary structures in 11,315 non-redundant human pre-mRNA sequences was conducted.
Statistical Information
P-Value
<10-200
Statistical Significance
p<10-200
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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