The DNA sequence of the human beta-globin region is strongly biased in favor of long strings of contiguous purine or pyrimidine residues.
The DNA sequence of the human beta-globin region, comprising over 67 kilobase pairs, has been analyzed for the occurrence of strings of contiguous purine or pyrimidine residues. Tracts of 10 or more contiguous residues are found 4 times more frequently than would be expected with a random distribution of bases, so that a long string occurs at an average of every 250 base pairs. A survey of six other human gene sequences, totaling 86 kilobase pairs, shows a remarkably similar result. No such overrepresentation of contiguous purine or pyrimidine residues is found in the bacteriophages lambda or T7.
Department of Chemistry, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015.
M J
MJ
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D001483:Base Sequence; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D005796:Genes; D005914:Globins / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011687:Purines; D011743:Pyrimidines
D011687:Purines; D011743:Pyrimidines; D005914:Globins; D004247:DNA