We propose a new method for the comparative analysis of two long DNA sequences. Our method is the first that takes into account biological events like local inversions when searching for highly conserved regions. Our method introduces new ideas to the usual concept of alignments, that detects events like insertions, deletions and mutations but not inversions. It proposes a weighted bipartite-ma...

MOTIVATION The structures of homologous proteins are generally better conserved than their sequences. This phenomenon is demonstrated by the prevalence of structurally conserved regions (SCRs) even in highly divergent protein families. Defining SCRs requires the comparison of two or more homologous structures and is affected by their availability and divergence, and our ability to deduce struct...

Within a single alignment of two DNA sequences or two protein sequences, some regions may be much better conserved than others. Such strong conservation may reveal a region that possesses an important function. When alignments are so long that it is infeasible, or at least undesirable, to inspect them in complete detail, it is helpful to have an automatic process that computes information about...

BEAUTY (BLAST enhanced alignment utility) is an enhanced version of the NCBI's BLAST data base search tool that facilitates identification of the functions of matched sequences. We have created new data bases of conserved regions and functional domains for protein sequences in NCBI's Entrez data base, and BEAUTY allows this information to be incorporated directly into BLAST search results. A Co...

Accurate multiple sequence alignments of proteins are very important to several areas of computational biology and provide an understanding of phylogenetic history of domain families, their identification and classification. This article presents a new algorithm, REFINER, that refines a multiple sequence alignment by iterative realignment of its individual sequences with the predetermined conse...

Comparisons between orthologous intergenic regions of related genomes reveal numerous hits, i.e. pairs of relatively short highly similar sequences that evolved slowly, perhaps due to selective constraint. We analyzed and classified 2638 hits found within 100 pairs of complete, orthologous intergenic regions of human and murine genomes. We identified all common fragments of hits that align well...

TATA binding protein (TBP) plays a central role in transcription complex assembly and is regulated by a variety of transcription factors, including Mot1. Mot1 is an essential protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae that exerts both negative and positive effects on transcription via interactions with TBP. It contains two conserved regions important for TBP interactions, another conserved region that...

Oligonucleotide microarrays have been applied to microbial surveillance and discovery where highly multiplexed assays are required to address a wide range of genetic targets. Although printing density continues to increase, the design of comprehensive microbial probe sets remains a daunting challenge, particularly in virology where rapid sequence evolution and database expansion confound static...

Numerous physical and genetic approaches have identified residues in the alpha, beta, beta' and sigma subunits of Escherichia coli RNA polymerase that are involved in transcriptional processes; in contrast, relatively little data exist to demonstrate interacting regions within or between the subunits themselves. As a means of identifying regions in the beta subunit that may interact, we have so...