DOE Human Genome Program Contractor-Grantee Workshop VIII
February 27-March 2, 2000  Santa Fe, NM

68. Comparative Analyses of Syntenic Regions using Pattern Filtering

Jonathan E. Moore and James Lake

Molecular Biology Institute and MCD Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095

Comparative computational analyses of syntenic DNA sequences among the bilateral animals hold great potential for the identification of genomic features, such as protein coding regions, gene boundaries, introns, and genetic regulatory elements. A computational method, developed in our lab, called pattern filtering optimally separates the signals conserved between sequences from the noise caused by the stochastic process of nucleotide substitution. We are currently developing related methods having more statistical power for the identification of protein coding regions and their boundaries. Preliminary analyses, utilizing only pattern filtering methods, of mammalian mitochondrial DNAs and of the human chromosome 12p13 locus and its syntenic region in mouse show the considerably promise of this method. We plan to continue our progress toward rapid and effective analysis through pattern filtering of genomic features in the syntenic regions of mouse, human, and other species.