title: Long-range correlations in nucleotide sequences.
abstract: DNA sequences have been analysed using models, such as an n-step Markov chain, that incorporate the possibility of short-range nucleotide correlations. We propose here a method for studying the stochastic properties of nucleotide sequences by constructing a 1:1 map of the nucleotide sequence onto a walk, which we term a 'DNA walk'. We then use the mapping to provide a quantitative measure of the correlation between nucleotides over long distances along the DNA chain. Thus we uncover in the nucleotide sequence a remarkably long-range power law correlation that implies a new scale-invariant property of DNA. We find such long-range correlations in intron-containing genes and in nontranscribed regulatory DNA sequences, but not in complementary DNA sequences or intron-less genes.
authors.affiliation: Center for Polymer Studies, Boston University, Massachusetts 02215.
authors.forename: C K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: S V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Buldyrev
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Goldberger
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Havlin
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sciortino
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Simons
authors.forename: H E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Stanley
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D007438:Introns; D009710:Nucleotide Mapping; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D013223:Statistics as Topic
chemical_list: D004247:DNA