MOLECULAR STRUCTURE OF ANIMAL VIRUSES AND CELLS BY COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS

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Complex macromolecular processes and the structural organization of normal, infected and transformed cells are modeled using viral systems. Computers are used to study nucleic acid and protein sequences that embody the information of living systems. Computer analyses of proteins and nucleic acids are developed and implemented in conjunction with techniques of biochemistry, virology, and electron microscopy on sequences of picornaviruses, adenoviruses, and human immunodeficiency viruses. Graphic representations revealing homology, and reverse complementarity are coupled with numerical methods to aid the prediction of secondary structure, splicing, promoters, and recombination in nucleic acid molecules. Computer programs are developed locally and elsewhere for application on vector and massively parallel supercomputers, minicomputers and graphic workstations to perform sequence analysis and structure predictions. Methods to assess the significance of predictions use Monte Carlo simulations, evolutionary comparisons and biochemical data. Roles for genes and proteins are deduced by comparison with databases of sequences of known function and structure.