title: An application of gene comparative image for predicting the effect on replication ratio by HBV virus gene missense mutation.
abstract: Hepatitis B viruses (HBVs) show instantaneous and high-ratio mutations when they are replicated, some sorts of which significantly affect the efficiency of virus replication through enhancing or depressing the viral replication, while others have no influence at all. The mechanism of gene expression is closely correlated with its gene sequence. With the rapid increase in the number of newly found sequences entering into data banks, it is highly desirable to develop an automated method for simulating the gene regulating function. The establishment of such a predictor will no doubt expedite the process of prioritizing genes and proteins identified by genomics efforts as potential molecular targets for drug design. Based on the power of cellular automata (CA) in treating complex systems with simple rules, a novel method to present HBV gene image has been introduced. The results show that the images thus obtained can very efficiently simulate the effects of the gene missense mutation on the virus replication. It is anticipated that CA may also serve as a useful vehicle for many other studies on complicated biological systems.
authors.affiliation: Bio-Informatics Research Center, Donghua University, Shanghai 200051, China.
authors.forename: Xuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Shihuang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Yongsheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Zhengde
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Xiaojing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Kuo-Chen
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Chou
mesh_terms: D019295:Computational Biology; D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral; D005814:Genes, Viral; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000821:virology*; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D020125:Mutation, Missense; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000235:genetics*