Bioinformatic tools for DNA/protein sequence analysis, functional assignment of genes and protein classification

The development of efficient DNA sequencing methods has led to the achievement of the DNA sequence of entire genomes from (to date) 55 prokaryotes, 5 eukaryotic organisms and 10 eukaryotic chromosomes. Thus, an enormous amount of DNA sequence data is available and even more will be forthcoming in the near future. Analysis of this overwhelming amount of data requires bioinformatic tools in order to identify genes that encode functional proteins or RNA. This is an important task, considering that even in the well-studied Escherichia coli more than 30% of the identified open reading frames are hypothetical genes. Future challenges of genome sequence analysis will include the understanding of gene regulation and metabolic pathway reconstruction including DNA chip technology, which holds tremendous potential for biomedicine and the biotechnological production of valuable compounds. The overwhelming volume of information often confuses scientists. This review intends to provide a guide to choosing the most efficient way to analyze a new sequence or to collect information on a gene or protein of interest by applying current publicly available databases and Web services. Recently developed tools that allow functional assignment of genes, mainly based on sequence similarity of the deduced amino acid sequence, using the currently available and increasing biological databases will be discussed.     

A common deletion at chromosomal region 17q21 in sporadic prostate tumors distal to BRCA1

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in males in the United States, yet the etiology of this disease is still poorly understood. In previous work from our laboratory, one or more deleted regions were found in prostate tumors distal to the breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility gene (BRCA1) on chromosome 17. This suggested that genes at 17q21 may play a pivotal role in prostate cancer progression, and there may be new tumor suppressor genes at this locus. We now present a physical map built with P1, P1 artificial chromosome, and bacterial artificial chromosome clones encompassing a DNA sequence anchored by multiple STS markers. The analysis of prostate tumors indicated an 85-kb novel commonly deleted interval flanked by D17S1184-D17S183-D17S1203-D17S1860, which is at least 470 kb distal to the BRCA1 gene. Fifty-four of 126 prostrate cancer cases (43%) showed a deletion by a direct FISH technique using P1 probes in this region. Searching with clone end sequences in the sequence database BLAST, the deleted clone covered genomic DNA sequence that contained upstream binding factor (UBF), EPB3 genes, SHCL1, ASB-4-like sequence, and acidic protein-like sequence. PCR for the ESTs confirmed that these genes or ESTs are within the deletion region. Our results will be helpful for finding candidate tumor suppressor genes in prostate cancer.     

Coding variants in human double-strand break DNA repair genes

DNA repair is essential for the maintenance of genomic integrity. Consequently, altered repair capacity may impact individual health in such areas as aging and susceptibility to certain diseases. Defects in some DNA repair genes, for example, have been shown to increase cancer risk, accelerate aging and impair neurological functions. Now that over 115 genes directly involved in human DNA repair have been characterized at the DNA sequence level, the identification of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in DNA repair genes is becoming a reality. This information will likely lead to the identification of alleles, or combinations of alleles that affect disease predisposition. This communication summarizes SNPs identified to date in the coding region of 24 human double-strand break repair (DSBR) genes. SNP data for four of these genes were obtained by screening at least 100 individuals in our laboratory. For each SNP, the codon number, amino acid substitution, allele frequency and population information is supplied.     

编码锌指蛋白的人类新基因TFL76的电子克隆

目的：根据基因同源同功原理电子克隆人类新基因。方法：利用基于基因识别软件Genescan和EST拼接的同源基因克隆法得到人类新基因序列TFL76,再利用生物信息学数据库和软件对其进行功能的预测和分析。结果：TFL76的cDNA序列长2268bp,开放阅读框编码677个氨基酸残基,含12个连续的C2H2型锌指基序,其分子量为76kDa。编码区序列被4个内含子分割。染色体定位于19q13．4。此位点存在很多与胃癌、膀胱癌、乳腺癌等癌症相关的基因。TFL76的N末端含有多种蛋白激酶的磷酸化位点和核定位信号。结论：TFL76可能是一个和癌症相关的核转录因子。     

DNA微阵列技术及其在肿瘤生物学中的应用

人类基因组测序工作的完成使人们可以方便地调用任何基因序列,但仅有基因序列并不能解释众多的生物学问题,这要求发展一种高通量的技术用于研究基因的生物学功能以及基因的相互作用。DNA微阵列技术以其高通量的特点,已经在肿瘤生物学的研究中逐渐被采用。由于癌症是源于基因表达谱改变的基因疾病,通过DNA微阵列技术研究癌症细胞和对应的正常细胞的基因表达差异,将会使人们更好地了解肿瘤的形成和发展过程。     

微生物基因组注释系统MGAP

利用生物信息学方法和工具开发了微生物基因组注释系统（Microbial genome annotation package, MGAP）,并用于蓝细菌PCC7002的基因组注释。该系统由基因组注释系统和基于Web的用户接口程序两部分组成。基因组注释系统整合多个基因识别、功能预测和序列分析软件;以及蛋白质序列数据库、蛋白质资源信息系统和直系同源蛋白质家族数据库等。用户接口程序包括基因组环状图展示、基因和开放读码框在染色体上的分布图,以及注释信息检索工具。该系统基于PC微机和Linux操作系统,用MySQL作数据库管理系统、用Apache作Web服务器程序,用Perl脚本语言编写应用程序接口,上述软件均可免费获得。     

The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR): a model organism database providing a centralized,curated gateway to Arabidopsis biology,research materials and community

Arabidopsis thaliana is the most widely-studied plant today. The concerted efforts of over 11 000 researchers and 4000 organizations around the world are generating a rich diversity and quantity of information and materials. This information is made available through a comprehensive on-line resource called the Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR) (http://arabidopsis.org), which is accessible via commonly used web browsers and can be searched and downloaded in a number of ways. In the last two years, efforts have been focused on increasing data content and diversity, functionally annotating genes and gene products with controlled vocabularies, and improving data retrieval, analysis and visualization tools. New information include sequence polymorphisms including alleles, germplasms and phenotypes, Gene Ontology annotations, gene families, protein information, metabolic pathways, gene expression data from microarray experiments and seed and DNA stocks. New data visualization and analysis tools include SeqViewer, which interactively displays the genome from the whole chromosome down to 10 kb of nucleotide sequence and AraCyc, a metabolic pathway database and map tool that allows overlaying expression data onto the pathway diagrams. Finally, we have recently incorporated seed and DNA stock information from the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center (ABRC) and implemented a shopping-cart style on-line ordering system.     

ISHAN: sequence homology analysis package

Sequence based homology studies play an important role in evolutionary tracing and classification of proteins. Various methods are available to analyze biological sequence information. However, with the advent of proteomics era, there is a growing demand for analysis of huge amount of biological sequence information, and it has become necessary to have programs that would provide speedy analysis. ISHAN has been developed as a homology analysis package, built on various sequence analysis tools viz FASTA, ALIGN, CLUSTALW, PHYLIP and CODONW (for DNA sequences). This JAVA application offers the user choice of analysis tools. For testing, ISHAN was applied to perform phylogenetic analysis for sets of Caspase 3 DNA sequences and NF-kappaB p105 amino acid sequences. By integrating several tools it has made analysis much faster and reduced manual intervention.     

Nucleotide sequence of the DNA packaging and capsid synthesis genes of bacteriophage P2.

Overlapping DNA fragments containing the DNA packaging and capsid synthesis gene region of bacteriophage P2 were cloned and sequenced. In this report we present the complete nucleotide sequence of this 6550 bp region. Each of six open reading frames found in the interval was assigned to one of the essential genes (Q, P, O, N, M and L) by correlating genetic, physical and mutational data with DNA and protein sequence information. Polypeptides predicted were: a capsid completion protein, gpL; the major capsid precursor, gpN; the presumed capsid scaffolding protein; gpO; the ATPase and proposed endonuclease subunits of terminase, gpP and gpM, respectively; and a candidate for the portal protein, gpQ. These gene and protein sequences exhibited no homology to analogous genes or proteins of other bacteriophages. Expression of gene Q in E. coli from a plasmid caused production of a Mr 39,000 Da protein that restored Qam34 growth. This sequence analysis found only genes previously known from analysis of conditional-lethal mutations. No new capsid genes were found.     

A comparative analysis of the complete mitochondrial genome of the Eurasian otter <Emphasis Type="Italic">Lutra lutra</Emphasis> (Carnivora; Mustelidae)

Otter populations are declining throughout the world and most otter species are considered endangered. Molecular methods are suitable tools for population genetic research on endangered species. In the present study, we analyzed the complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) sequence of the Eurasian otter Lutra lutra. The mitochondrial DNA sequence of the Eurasian otter is 16,505 bp in length and consists of 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNAs, 2 rRNAs, and a control region (CR). The CR sequence of otters from Europe and Asia showed nearly identical numbers and nucleotide sequences of minisatellites. Phylogenetic analysis of Mustelidae mitogenomes, including individual genes, revealed that Lutrinae and Mustelinae form a clade, and that L. lutra and Enhydra lutris are sister taxa within the Lutrinae. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that of the 13 mitochondrial protein-coding genes, ND5 is the most reliable marker for analysis of phylogenetic relationships within the Mustelidae.