Statistical Mechanics Approach to DNA Promoter Prediction

该项目的目标是开发一种有效的方法来预测任何给定DNA序列中启动子区域的位置。启动子是DNA的调控区域，为基因转录提供控制点，在真核生物中，它们非常多样化，难以表征。已经证明，它们的位置与沿DNA序列的区域有关，在这些区域氢键很可能被拉伸。该项目将解决的问题包括扩展目前使用的DNA双螺旋模型，以解释DNA序列的异质性和其他相关结构特性，以及研究计算这些序列的热力学特性所涉及的积分算符的谱。本课程的最终目标是发展一种能够快速可靠地分析超长DNA序列的方法。这是至关重要的，因为，一方面，有证据表明许多疾病，如哮喘，与启动子元件有关，另一方面，基因的受控调节代表了一种强有力的治疗方法。一旦这种方法在已经研究的序列上进行了测试，就有可能使生物学学科的科学家能够使用它，并在实验设计中使用它。

The objective of this project is the development of an efficient method for the prediction of the location of promoter regions in any given DNA sequence. Promoters are regulatory regions of DNA providing a control point for gene transcription, and in eukaryotes, they are very diverse and difficult to characterize. It has been demonstrated that their location is associated with regions along the DNA sequence where there is high probability for the hydrogen bonds to be stretched. Among the problems that will be addressed in this project is the extension of the currently used models of the DNA double helix to account for the heterogeneity and other relevant structural properties of DNA sequences, and the study of the spectrum of integral operators involved in the calculation of the thermodynamical properties of such sequences.The proposed course of study has as ultimate goal the development of a methodology that will allow the fast and reliable analysis of very long DNA sequences. This is crucial, because, on one hand, there is evidence that many diseases, e.g., asthma, are associated with promoter elements and on the other hand, the controlled regulation of genes represents a powerful therapeutic approach. Once such a method has been tested on already studied sequences, it will be possible to make it available to scientists in the biological disciplines, and to use it in the design of experiments.