The "clustered structure" of the purines/pyrimidines distribution in DNA distinguishes systematically between coding and non-coding sequences.
A method allowing to measure the inhomogeneous distribution of purines/pyrimidines in nucleotide sequences is developed. We show that this measure relates to the coding or non-coding character of the considered sequence. Coding sequences present a near to the random Pu or Py distribution. This property is shared by both protein-coding DNA and functional RNA-coding DNA. Non-coding sequences present a highly clustered inhomogeneity. We propose the hypothesis, corroborated with appropriate computer simulations, that this is due to the action of various transposition events accumulated for long time periods.
Almirantis
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Y
Institute of Biology, National Research Center for Physical Sciences Demokritos, Athens, Greece.
Provata
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A
D000818:Animals; D001482:Base Composition; D001483:Base Sequence; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D008433:Mathematics; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D011687:Purines / Q000032:analysis*; D011743:Pyrimidines / Q000032:analysis*; D012313:RNA / Q000096:biosynthesis; D014780:Viruses / Q000235:genetics
D004279:DNA, Viral; D011687:Purines; D011743:Pyrimidines; D012313:RNA; D004247:DNA