Two-dimensional graphical representation of DNA sequences and intron-exon discrimination in intron-rich sequences

We have shown earlier that analysis of DNA sequences using atwo-dimensional graphical representation provides considerableinformation on new global sequence patterns and homologies,repeated structures, relative base abundances, probable evolutionarypaths and evolutionary divergence. We have also reported thatat a more micro level the graphical representation reveals distinctdifferences in the features of intron and exon segments of eukaryoticsequences. In this paper, the distinguishing features of theintron and exon segments are exploited to show, through severalexamples of different gene structures, that an averaging procedureover the slopes of the representative maps provides an easytechnique to differentiate between probable in Iron and exonregions. We thus expect that this method will enable a rapidsearch and preliminary indication of possible locations of proteincoding regions in long eukaryotic sequences.