TargetFinder: a software for antisense oligonucleotide target site selection based on MAST and secondary structures of target mRNA

SUMMARY: TargetFinder is a PC/Windows program for interactive effective antisense oligonucleotide (AO) selection based on mRNA accessible site tagging (MAST) and secondary structures of target mRNA. To make MAST result intuitive, both the alignment result and tag frequency profile is illustrated. As theoretical reference, secondary structure and single strand probability profile of target mRNA is also represented. All of these sequences and profiles are displayed in aligned mode, which facilitates identification of the accessible sites in target mRNA. Graphical, user-friendly interface makes TargetFinder a useful tool in AO target site selection. AVAILABILITY: The software is freely available at http://www.bioit.org.cn/ao/targetfinder.htm CONTACT: sqwang@nic.bmi.ac.cn.     

遗传算法在转录因子结合位点识别中的应用

遗传算法是模拟生物进化过程的计算模型,是一种全局优化搜索算法。将遗传算法与转录因子结合位点识别问题相结合的新方法,以一致性序列模型作为保守motif的描述模型,通过对motif序列与待测序列的比对问题进行编码,将其转化成搜索空间中的优化问题,利用遗传算法来搜索最优解,预测转录因子的结合位点。实验结果表明,这种新的方法是有效的,它在占用少量内存的情况下能够准确地识别出待测转录因子结合位点。