相关论文: Rubbish DNA: The functionless fraction of the huma…
Many efforts have been done in order to explain the role of junk DNA, but its function remain to be elucidated. In addition the GC-content variations among species still represent an enigma. Both these two misteries can have a common…
We propose that the evolutionary purpose of junk DNA is to protect the gene. Mutation agents, such as retro-viruses, hit ``decoy'' DNA most of the time. Although the argument is far from general, we propose that the percentage of junk DNA…
Noncoding RNA (ncRNA) and long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) are scientifically invalid terms because they define molecular entities according to properties they do not possess and functions they do not perform. Here, I suggest retiring these two…
Identifying the complete set of functional elements within the human genome would be a windfall for multiple areas of biological research including medicine, molecular biology, and evolution. Complete knowledge of function would aid in the…
Recent advances in high-throughput genomics technologies have resulted in the sequencing of large numbers of (near) complete genomes. These genome sequences are being mined for important functional elements, such as genes. They are also…
Most of the DNA that composes a complex organism is non-coding and defined as junk. Even the coding part is composed of genes that affect the phenotype differently. Therefore, a random mutation has an effect on the specimen fitness that…
One of the basic questions of phylogenomics is how gene function evolves, whether among species or inside gene families. In this chapter, we provide a brief overview of the problems associated with defining gene function in a manner which…
The genome is software because it a set of verbal instructions for a programmable computer, the ribosome. The theory of evolution now reads: evolution is the software developer responsible for the existence of the genome. We claim that this…
The formation of DNA loops by proteins and protein complexes is ubiquitous to many fundamental cellular processes, including transcription, recombination, and replication. Here we review recent advances in understanding the properties of…
The information contained in the genome is insufficient for the control of organism development. Thus, the whereabouts of actual operational directives and workings of the genome remain obscure. In this work, it is suggested that the genome…
Significant fraction (about 98.5% in humans, 24% in microbe Rickettsia prowazekii) of most animal genomes is non-coding DNA. Although recent studies established functions of its certain portions, it remains genomic dark matter. The paper…
Eukaryote genomes contain excessively introns, inter-genic and other non-genic sequences that appear to have no vital functional role or phenotype manifestation. Their existence, a long-standing puzzle, is viewed from the principle of…
We propose and apply a novel paradigm for characterization of genome data quality, which quantifies the effects of intentional degradation of quality. The rationale is that the higher the initial quality, the more fragile the genome and the…
Significant fraction (98.5% in humans) of most animal genomes is non- coding dark matter. Its largely unknown function (1-5) is related to programming (rather than to spontaneous mutations) of accurate adaptation to rapidly changing…
In the near future, all the human genes will be identified. But understanding the functions coded in the genes is a much harder problem. For example, by using block entropy, one has that the DNA code is closer to a random code then written…
Biological cells replicate their genomes in a well-planned manner. The DNA replication program of an organism determines the timing at which different genomic regions are replicated, with fundamental consequences for cell homeostasis and…
The mechanical properties of DNA play a critical role in many biological functions. For example, DNA packing in viruses involves confining the viral genome in a volume (the viral capsid) with dimensions that are comparable to the DNA…
Scientists have been trying to identify all of the genes in the human genome since the initial draft of the genome was published in 2001. Over the intervening years, much progress has been made in identifying protein-coding genes, and the…
How does the genome encode the form of the organism? What is the nature of this genomic code? Inspired by recent work in machine learning and neuroscience, we propose that the genome encodes a generative model of the organism. In this…
Understanding functional organization of genetic information is a major challenge in modern biology. Following the initial publication of the human genome sequence in 2001, advances in high-throughput measurement technologies and efficient…