title: Short fuzzy tandem repeats in genomic sequences, identification, and possible role in regulation of gene expression.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Genomic sequences are highly redundant and contain many types of repetitive DNA. Fuzzy tandem repeats (FTRs) are of particular interest. They are found in regulatory regions of eukaryotic genes and are reported to interact with transcription factors. However, accurate assessment of FTR occurrences in different genome segments requires specific algorithm for efficient FTR identification and classification.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We have obtained formulas for P-values of FTR occurrence and developed an FTR identification algorithm implemented in TandemSWAN software. Using TandemSWAN we compared the structure and the occurrence of FTRs with short period length (up to 24 bp) in coding and non-coding regions including UTRs, heterochromatic, intergenic and enhancer sequences of Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila pseudoobscura. Tandems with period three and its multiples were found in coding segments, whereas FTRs with periods multiple of six are overrepresented in all non-coding segment. Periods equal to 5-7 and 11-14 were characteristic of the enhancer regions and other non-coding regions close to genes.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  TandemSWAN web page, stand-alone version and documentation can be found at http://bioinform.genetika.ru/projects/swan/www/
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics, Moscow State University Moscow, Russia. valeyo@imb.ac.ru
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Boeva
authors.forename: Mireille
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Regnier
authors.forename: Dmitri
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Papatsenko
authors.forename: Vsevolod
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Makeev
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D002874:Chromosome Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics*; D017143:Fuzzy Logic; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment / Q000379:methods; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000379:methods*; D020080:Tandem Repeat Sequences / Q000235:genetics*