Computational Genomics of Noncoding RNA Genes

Computational Genomics of Noncoding RNA Genes

The number of known noncoding RNA genes is expanding rapidly. Computational analysis of genome sequences, which has been revolutionary for protein gene analysis, should also be able to address questions of the number and diversity of noncoding RNA genes. However, noncoding RNAs present computational genomics with a new set of challenges.

Computational Identification of Noncoding RNA Genes through Phylogenetic Shadowing

Although fairly accurate databases exist for protein-coding genes, little is known about another important class of genes known as noncoding RNA genes. These genes, which have been implicated in a wide variety of critical biochemical pathways including brain development [7] and viral defense [5], are not translated into polypeptides. Instead, their transcribed RNAs fold into stable, base-paired...

Noncoding RNA genes.

Some genes produce RNAs that are functional instead of encoding proteins. Noncoding RNA genes are surprisingly numerous. Recently, active research areas include small nucleolar RNAs, antisense riboregulator RNAs, and RNAs involved in X-dosage compensation. Genome sequences and new algorithms have begun to make systematic computational screens for noncoding RNA genes possible.

C. elegans noncoding RNA genes.

The C. elegans genome contains approximately 1300 genes that produce functional noncoding RNA (ncRNA) transcripts. Here we describe what is currently known about these ncRNA genes, from the perspective of the annotation of the finished genome sequence. We have collated a reference set of C. elegans ncRNA gene annotation relative to the WS130 version of the genome assembly, and made these data a...

Computational Comparative Genomics : Genes , Regulation ,