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A Nonlinear Methodology to Explain Complexity of the Genome and Bioinformatic Information, Volume 2 (Volume Two: Latest in Genomics Methodologies for Therapeutics: Gene Editing, NGS and BioInformatics, Simulations and the Genome Ontology), Part 1: Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)

A Nonlinear Methodology to Explain Complexity of the Genome and Bioinformatic Information

Reporter: Stephen J. Williams, Ph.D.

Multifractal bioinformatics: A proposal to the nonlinear interpretation of genome

The following is an open access article by Pedro Moreno on a methodology to analyze genetic information across species and in particular, the evolutionary trends of complex genomes, by a nonlinear analytic approach utilizing fractal geometry, coined “Nonlinear Bioinformatics”.  This fractal approach stems from the complex nature of higher eukaryotic genomes including mosaicism, multiple interdispersed  genomic elements such as intronic regions, noncoding regions, and also mobile elements such as transposable elements.  Although seemingly random, there exists a repetitive nature of these elements. Such complexity of DNA regulation, structure and genomic variation is felt best understood by developing algorithms based on fractal analysis, which can best model the regionalized and repetitive variability and structure within complex genomes by elucidating the individual components which contributes to an overall complex structure rather than using a “linear” or “reductionist” approach looking at individual coding regions, which does not take into consideration the aforementioned factors leading to genetic complexity and diversity.

Indeed, many other attempts to describe the complexities of DNA as a fractal geometric pattern have been described.  In a paper by Carlo Cattani “Fractals and Hidden Symmetries in DNA“, Carlo uses fractal analysis to construct a simple geometric pattern of the influenza A virus by modeling the primary sequence of this viral DNA, namely the bases A,G,C, and T. The main conclusions that

fractal shapes and symmetries in DNA sequences and DNA walks have been shown and compared with random and deterministic complex series. DNA sequences are structured in such a way that there exists some fractal behavior which can be observed both on the correlation matrix and on the DNA walks. Wavelet analysis confirms by a symmetrical clustering of wavelet coefficients the existence of scale symmetries.

suggested that, at least, the viral influenza genome structure could be analyzed into its basic components by fractal geometry.
This approach has been used to model the complex nature of cancer as discussed in a 2011 Seminars in Oncology paper
Abstract: Cancer is a highly complex disease due to the disruption of tissue architecture. Thus, tissues, and not individual cells, are the proper level of observation for the study of carcinogenesis. This paradigm shift from a reductionist approach to a systems biology approach is long overdue. Indeed, cell phenotypes are emergent modes arising through collective non-linear interactions among different cellular and microenvironmental components, generally described by “phase space diagrams”, where stable states (attractors) are embedded into a landscape model. Within this framework, cell states and cell transitions are generally conceived as mainly specified by gene-regulatory networks. However, the system s dynamics is not reducible to the integrated functioning of the genome-proteome network alone; the epithelia-stroma interacting system must be taken into consideration in order to give a more comprehensive picture. Given that cell shape represents the spatial geometric configuration acquired as a result of the integrated set of cellular and environmental cues, we posit that fractal-shape parameters represent “omics descriptors of the epithelium-stroma system. Within this framework, function appears to follow form, and not the other way around.

As authors conclude

” Transitions from one phenotype to another are reminiscent of phase transitions observed in physical systems. The description of such transitions could be obtained by a set of morphological, quantitative parameters, like fractal measures. These parameters provide reliable information about system complexity. “

Gene expression also displays a fractal nature. In a Frontiers in Physiology paper by Mahboobeh Ghorbani, Edmond A. Jonckheere and Paul Bogdan* “Gene Expression Is Not Random: Scaling, Long-Range Cross-Dependence, and Fractal Characteristics of Gene Regulatory Networks“,

the authors describe that gene expression networks display time series display fractal and long-range dependence characteristics.

Abstract: Gene expression is a vital process through which cells react to the environment and express functional behavior. Understanding the dynamics of gene expression could prove crucial in unraveling the physical complexities involved in this process. Specifically, understanding the coherent complex structure of transcriptional dynamics is the goal of numerous computational studies aiming to study and finally control cellular processes. Here, we report the scaling properties of gene expression time series in Escherichia coliand Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Unlike previous studies, which report the fractal and long-range dependency of DNA structure, we investigate the individual gene expression dynamics as well as the cross-dependency between them in the context of gene regulatory network. Our results demonstrate that the gene expression time series display fractal and long-range dependence characteristics. In addition, the dynamics between genes and linked transcription factors in gene regulatory networks are also fractal and long-range cross-correlated. The cross-correlation exponents in gene regulatory networks are not unique. The distribution of the cross-correlation exponents of gene regulatory networks for several types of cells can be interpreted as a measure of the complexity of their functional behavior.

 

Given that multitude of complex biomolecular networks and biomolecules can be described by fractal patterns, the development of bioinformatic algorithms  would enhance our understanding of the interdependence and cross funcitonality of these mutiple biological networks, particularly in disease and drug resistance.  The article below by Pedro Moreno describes the development of such bioinformatic algorithms.

Pedro A. Moreno
Escuela de Ingeniería de Sistemas y Computación, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia
E-mail: pedro.moreno@correounivalle.edu.co

Eje temático: Ingeniería de sistemas / System engineering
Recibido: 19 de septiembre de 2012
Aceptado: 16 de diciembre de 2013


 

 


Abstract

The first draft of the human genome (HG) sequence was published in 2001 by two competing consortia. Since then, several structural and functional characteristics for the HG organization have been revealed. Today, more than 2.000 HG have been sequenced and these findings are impacting strongly on the academy and public health. Despite all this, a major bottleneck, called the genome interpretation persists. That is, the lack of a theory that explains the complex puzzles of coding and non-coding features that compose the HG as a whole. Ten years after the HG sequenced, two recent studies, discussed in the multifractal formalism allow proposing a nonlinear theory that helps interpret the structural and functional variation of the genetic information of the genomes. The present review article discusses this new approach, called: “Multifractal bioinformatics”.

Keywords: Omics sciences, bioinformatics, human genome, multifractal analysis.


1. Introduction

Omic Sciences and Bioinformatics

In order to study the genomes, their life properties and the pathological consequences of impairment, the Human Genome Project (HGP) was created in 1990. Since then, about 500 Gpb (EMBL) represented in thousands of prokaryotic genomes and tens of different eukaryotic genomes have been sequenced (NCBI, 1000 Genomes, ENCODE). Today, Genomics is defined as the set of sciences and technologies dedicated to the comprehensive study of the structure, function and origin of genomes. Several types of genomic have arisen as a result of the expansion and implementation of genomics to the study of the Central Dogma of Molecular Biology (CDMB), Figure 1 (above). The catalog of different types of genomics uses the Latin suffix “-omic” meaning “set of” to mean the new massive approaches of the new omics sciences (Moreno et al, 2009). Given the large amount of genomic information available in the databases and the urgency of its actual interpretation, the balance has begun to lean heavily toward the requirements of bioinformatics infrastructure research laboratories Figure 1 (below).

The bioinformatics or Computational Biology is defined as the application of computer and information technology to the analysis of biological data (Mount, 2004). An interdisciplinary science that requires the use of computing, applied mathematics, statistics, computer science, artificial intelligence, biophysical information, biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology. Bioinformatics was born from the need to understand the sequences of nucleotide or amino acid symbols that make up DNA and proteins, respectively. These analyzes are made possible by the development of powerful algorithms that predict and reveal an infinity of structural and functional features in genomic sequences, as gene location, discovery of homologies between macromolecules databases (Blast), algorithms for phylogenetic analysis, for the regulatory analysis or the prediction of protein folding, among others. This great development has created a multiplicity of approaches giving rise to new types of Bioinformatics, such as Multifractal Bioinformatics (MFB) that is proposed here.

1.1 Multifractal Bioinformatics and Theoretical Background

MFB is a proposal to analyze information content in genomes and their life properties in a non-linear way. This is part of a specialized sub-discipline called “nonlinear Bioinformatics”, which uses a number of related techniques for the study of nonlinearity (fractal geometry, Hurts exponents, power laws, wavelets, among others.) and applied to the study of biological problems (http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/tag/fractal-geometry/). For its application, we must take into account a detailed knowledge of the structure of the genome to be analyzed and an appropriate knowledge of the multifractal analysis.

1.2 From the Worm Genome toward Human Genome

To explore a complex genome such as the HG it is relevant to implement multifractal analysis (MFA) in a simpler genome in order to show its practical utility. For example, the genome of the small nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is an excellent model to learn many extrapolated lessons of complex organisms. Thus, if the MFA explains some of the structural properties in that genome it is expected that this same analysis reveals some similar properties in the HG.

The C. elegans nuclear genome is composed of about 100 Mbp, with six chromosomes distributed into five autosomes and one sex chromosome. The molecular structure of the genome is particularly homogeneous along with the chromosome sequences, due to the presence of several regular features, including large contents of genes and introns of similar sizes. The C. elegans genome has also a regional organization of the chromosomes, mainly because the majority of the repeated sequences are located in the chromosome arms, Figure 2 (left) (C. elegans Sequencing Consortium, 1998). Given these regular and irregular features, the MFA could be an appropriate approach to analyze such distributions.

Meanwhile, the HG sequencing revealed a surprising mosaicism in coding (genes) and noncoding (repetitive DNA) sequences, Figure 2 (right) (Venter et al., 2001). This structure of 6 Gbp is divided into 23 pairs of chromosomes (diploid cells) and these highly regionalized sequences introduce complex patterns of regularity and irregularity to understand the gene structure, the composition of sequences of repetitive DNA and its role in the study and application of life sciences. The coding regions of the genome are estimated at ~25,000 genes which constitute 1.4% of GH. These genes are involved in a giant sea of various types of non-coding sequences which compose 98.6% of HG (misnamed popularly as “junk DNA”). The non-coding regions are characterized by many types of repeated DNA sequences, where 10.6% consists of Alu sequences, a type of SINE (short and dispersed repeated elements) sequence and preferentially located towards the genes. LINES, MIR, MER, LTR, DNA transposons and introns are another type of non-coding sequences which form about 86% of the genome. Some of these sequences overlap with each other; as with CpG islands, which complicates the analysis of genomic landscape. This standard genomic landscape was recently clarified, the last studies show that 80.4% of HG is functional due to the discovery of more than five million “switches” that operate and regulate gene activity, re-evaluating the concept of “junk DNA”. (The ENCODE Project Consortium, 2012).

Given that all these genomic variations both in worm and human produce regionalized genomic landscapes it is proposed that Fractal Geometry (FG) would allow measuring how the genetic information content is fragmented. In this paper the methodology and the nonlinear descriptive models for each of these genomes will be reviewed.

1.3 The MFA and its Application to Genome Studies

Most problems in physics are implicitly non-linear in nature, generating phenomena such as chaos theory, a science that deals with certain types of (non-linear) but very sensitive dynamic systems to initial conditions, nonetheless of deterministic rigor, that is that their behavior can be completely determined by knowing initial conditions (Peitgen et al, 1992). In turn, the FG is an appropriate tool to study the chaotic dynamic systems (CDS). In other words, the FG and chaos are closely related because the space region toward which a chaotic orbit tends asymptotically has a fractal structure (strange attractors). Therefore, the FG allows studying the framework on which CDS are defined (Moon, 1992). And this is how it is expected for the genome structure and function to be organized.

The MFA is an extension of the FG and it is related to (Shannon) information theory, disciplines that have been very useful to study the information content over a sequence of symbols. Initially, Mandelbrot established the FG in the 80’s, as a geometry capable of measuring the irregularity of nature by calculating the fractal dimension (D), an exponent derived from a power law (Mandelbrot, 1982). The value of the D gives us a measure of the level of fragmentation or the information content for a complex phenomenon. That is because the D measures the scaling degree that the fragmented self-similarity of the system has. Thus, the FG looks for self-similar properties in structures and processes at different scales of resolution and these self-similarities are organized following scaling or power laws.

Sometimes, an exponent is not sufficient to characterize a complex phenomenon; so more exponents are required. The multifractal formalism allows this, and applies when many subgroups of fractals with different scalar properties with a large number of exponents or fractal dimensions coexist simultaneously. As a result, when a spectrum of multifractal singularity measurement is generated, the scaling behavior of the frequency of symbols of a sequence can be quantified (Vélez et al, 2010).

The MFA has been implemented to study the spatial heterogeneity of theoretical and experimental fractal patterns in different disciplines. In post-genomics times, the MFA was used to study multiple biological problems (Vélez et al, 2010). Nonetheless, very little attention has been given to the use of MFA to characterize the content of the structural genetic information of the genomes obtained from the images of the Chaos Representation Game (CRG). First studies at this level were made recently to the analysis of the C. elegans genome (Vélez et al, 2010) and human genomes (Moreno et al, 2011). The MFA methodology applied for the study of these genomes will be developed below.

2. Methodology

The Multifractal Formalism from the CGR

2.1 Data Acquisition and Molecular Parameters

Databases for the C. elegans and the 36.2 Hs_ refseq HG version were downloaded from the NCBI FTP server. Then, several strategies were designed to fragment the genomic DNA sequences of different length ranges. For example, the C. elegans genome was divided into 18 fragments, Figure 2 (left) and the human genome in 9,379 fragments. According to their annotation systems, the contents of molecular parameters of coding sequences (genes, exons and introns), noncoding sequences (repetitive DNA, Alu, LINES, MIR, MER, LTR, promoters, etc.) and coding/ non-coding DNA (TTAGGC, AAAAT, AAATT, TTTTC, TTTTT, CpG islands, etc.) are counted for each sequence.

2.2 Construction of the CGR 2.3 Fractal Measurement by the Box Counting Method

Subsequently, the CGR, a recursive algorithm (Jeffrey, 1990; Restrepo et al, 2009) is applied to each selected DNA sequence, Figure 3 (above, left) and from which an image is obtained, which is quantified by the box-counting algorithm. For example, in Figure 3 (above, left) a CGR image for a human DNA sequence of 80,000 bp in length is shown. Here, dark regions represent sub-quadrants with a high number of points (or nucleotides). Clear regions, sections with a low number of points. The calculation for the D for the Koch curve by the box-counting method is illustrated by a progression of changes in the grid size, and its Cartesian graph, Table 1

The CGR image for a given DNA sequence is quantified by a standard fractal analysis. A fractal is a fragmented geometric figure whose parts are an approximated copy at full scale, that is, the figure has self-similarity. The D is basically a scaling rule that the figure obeys. Generally, a power law is given by the following expression:

Where N(E) is the number of parts required for covering the figure when a scaling factor E is applied. The power law permits to calculate the fractal dimension as:

The D obtained by the box-counting algorithm covers the figure with disjoint boxes ɛ = 1/E and counts the number of boxes required. Figure 4 (above, left) shows the multifractal measure at momentum q=1.

2.4 Multifractal Measurement

When generalizing the box-counting algorithm for the multifractal case and according to the method of moments q, we obtain the equation (3) (Gutiérrez et al, 1998; Yu et al, 2001):

Where the Mi number of points falling in the i-th grid is determined and related to the total number Mand ɛ to box size. Thus, the MFA is used when multiple scaling rules are applied. Figure 4 (above, right) shows the calculation of the multifractal measures at different momentum q (partition function). Here, linear regressions must have a coefficient of determination equal or close to 1. From each linear regression D are obtained, which generate an spectrum of generalized fractal dimensions Dfor all q integers, Figure 4 (below, left). So, the multifractal spectrum is obtained as the limit:

The variation of the q integer allows emphasizing different regions and discriminating their fractal a high Dq is synonymous of the structure’s richness and the properties of these regions. Negative values emphasize the scarce regions; a high Dindicates a lot of structure and properties in these regions. In real world applications, the limit Dqreadily approximated from the data using a linear fitting: the transformation of the equation (3) yields:

Which shows that ln In(Mi )= for set q is a linear function in the ln(ɛ), Dq can therefore be evaluated as q the slope of a fixed relationship between In(Mi )= and (q-1) ln(ɛ). The methodologies and approaches for the method of box-counting and MFA are detailed in Moreno et al, 2000, Yu et al, 2001; Moreno, 2005. For a rigorous mathematical development of MFA from images consult Multifractal system, wikipedia.

2.5 Measurement of Information Content

Subsequently, from the spectrum of generalized dimensions Dq, the degree of multifractality ΔDq(MD) is calculated as the difference between the maximum and minimum values of : ΔD qq Dqmax – Dqmin (Ivanov et al, 1999). When qmaxqmin ΔDis high, the multifractal spectrum is rich in information and highly aperiodic, when ΔDq is small, the resulting dimension spectrum is poor in information and highly periodic. It is expected then, that the aperiodicity in the genome would be related to highly polymorphic genomic aperiodic structures and those periodic regions with highly repetitive and not very polymorphic genomic structures. The correlation exponent t(q) = (– 1)DqFigure 4 (below, right ) can also be obtained from the multifractal dimension Dq. The generalized dimension also provides significant specific information. D(q = 0) is equal to the Capacity dimension, which in this analysis is the size of the “box count”. D(q = 1) is equal to the Information dimension and D(q = 2) to the Correlation dimension. Based on these multifractal parameters, many of the structural genomic properties can be quantified, related, and interpreted.

2.6 Multifractal Parameters and Statistical and Discrimination Analyses

Once the multifractal parameters are calculated (D= (-20, 20), ΔDq, πq, etc.), correlations with the molecular parameters are sought. These relations are established by plotting the number of genome molecular parameters versus MD by discriminant analysis with Cartesian graphs in 2-D, Figure 5 (below, left) and 3-D and combining multifractal and molecular parameters. Finally, simple linear regression analysis, multivariate analysis, and analyses by ranges and clusterings are made to establish statistical significance.

3 Results and Discussion

3.1 Non-linear Descriptive Model for the C. elegans Genome

When analyzing the C. elegans genome with the multifractal formalism it revealed what symmetry and asymmetry on the genome nucleotide composition suggested. Thus, the multifractal scaling of the C. elegans genome is of interest because it indicates that the molecular structure of the chromosome may be organized as a system operating far from equilibrium following nonlinear laws (Ivanov et al, 1999; Burgos and Moreno-Tovar, 1996). This can be discussed from two points of view:

1) When comparing C. elegans chromosomes with each other, the X chromosome showed the lowest multifractality, Figure 5 (above). This means that the X chromosome is operating close to equilibrium, which results in an increased genetic instability. Thus, the instability of the X could selectively contribute to the molecular mechanism that determines sex (XX or X0) during meiosis. Thus, the X chromosome would be operating closer to equilibrium in order to maintain their particular sexual dimorphism.

2) When comparing different chromosome regions of the C. elegans genome, changes in multifractality were found in relation to the regional organization (at the center and arms) exhibited by the chromosomes, Figure 5 (below, left). These behaviors are associated with changes in the content of repetitive DNA, Figure 5 (below, right). The results indicated that the chromosome arms are even more complex than previously anticipated. Thus, TTAGGC telomere sequences would be operating far from equilibrium to protect the genetic information encoded by the entire chromosome.

All these biological arguments may explain why C. elegans genome is organized in a nonlinear way. These findings provide insight to quantify and understand the organization of the non-linear structure of the C. elegans genome, which may be extended to other genomes, including the HG (Vélez et al, 2010).

3.2 Nonlinear Descriptive Model for the Human Genome

Once the multifractal approach was validated in C. elegans genome, HG was analyzed exhaustively. This allowed us to propose a nonlinear model for the HG structure which will be discussed under three points of view.

1) It was found that the HG high multifractality depends strongly on the contents of Alu sequences and to a lesser extent on the content of CpG islands. These contents would be located primarily in highly aperiodic regions, thus taking the chromosome far from equilibrium and giving to it greater genetic stability, protection and attraction of mutations, Figure 6 (A-C). Thus, hundreds of regions in the HG may have high genetic stability and the most important genetic information of the HG, the genes, would be safeguarded from environmental fluctuations. Other repeated elements (LINES, MIR, MER, LTRs) showed no significant relationship,

Figure 6 (D). Consequently, the human multifractal map developed in Moreno et al, 2011 constitutes a good tool to identify those regions rich in genetic information and genomic stability. 2) The multifractal context seems to be a significant requirement for the structural and functional organization of thousands of genes and gene families. Thus, a high multifractal context (aperiodic) appears to be a “genomic attractor” for many genes (KOGs, KEEGs), Figure 6 (E) and some gene families, Figure 6 (F) are involved in genetic and deterministic processes, in order to maintain a deterministic regulation control in the genome, although most of HG sequences may be subject to a complex epigenetic control.

3) The classification of human chromosomes and chromosome regions analysis may have some medical implications (Moreno et al, 2002; Moreno et al, 2009). This means that the structure of low nonlinearity exhibited by some chromosomes (or chromosome regions) involve an environmental predisposition, as potential targets to undergo structural or numerical chromosomal alterations in Figure 6 (G). Additionally, sex chromosomes should have low multifractality to maintain sexual dimorphism and probably the X chromosome inactivation.

All these fractals and biological arguments could explain why Alu elements are shaping the HG in a nonlinearly manner (Moreno et al, 2011). Finally, the multifractal modeling of the HG serves as theoretical framework to examine new discoveries made by the ENCODE project and new approaches about human epigenomes. That is, the non-linear organization of HG might help to explain why it is expected that most of the GH is functional.

4. Conclusions

All these results show that the multifractal formalism is appropriate to quantify and evaluate genetic information contents in genomes and to relate it with the known molecular anatomy of the genome and some of the expected properties. Thus, the MFB allows interpreting in a logic manner the structural nature and variation of the genome.

The MFB allows understanding why a number of chromosomal diseases are likely to occur in the genome, thus opening a new perspective toward personalized medicine to study and interpret the GH and its diseases.

The entire genome contains nonlinear information organizing it and supposedly making it function, concluding that virtually 100% of HG is functional. Bioinformatics in general, is enriched with a novel approach (MFB) making it possible to quantify the genetic information content of any DNA sequence and their practical applications to different disciplines in biology, medicine and agriculture. This novel breakthrough in computational genomic analysis and diseases contributes to define Biology as a “hard” science.

MFB opens a door to develop a research program towards the establishment of an integrative discipline that contributes to “break” the code of human life. (http://pharmaceuticalintelligence. com/page/3/).

5. Acknowledgements

Thanks to the directives of the EISC, the Universidad del Valle and the School of Engineering for offering an academic, scientific and administrative space for conducting this research. Likewise, thanks to co authors (professors and students) who participated in the implementation of excerpts from some of the works cited here. Finally, thanks to Colciencias by the biotechnology project grant # 1103-12-16765.


6. References

Blanco, S., & Moreno, P.A. (2007). Representación del juego del caos para el análisis de secuencias de ADN y proteínas mediante el análisis multifractal (método “box-counting”). In The Second International Seminar on Genomics and Proteomics, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology (pp. 17-25). Popayán, Colombia.         [ Links ]

Burgos, J.D., & Moreno-Tovar, P. (1996). Zipf scaling behavior in the immune system. BioSystem , 39, 227-232.         [ Links ]

C. elegans Sequencing Consortium. (1998). Genome sequence of the nematode C. elegans: a platform for investigating biology. Science , 282, 2012-2018.         [ Links ]

Gutiérrez, J.M., Iglesias A., Rodríguez, M.A., Burgos, J.D., & Moreno, P.A. (1998). Analyzing the multifractals structure of DNA nucleotide sequences. In, M. Barbie & S. Chillemi (Eds.) Chaos and Noise in Biology and Medicine (cap. 4). Hackensack (NJ): World Scientific Publishing Co.         [ Links ]

Ivanov, P.Ch., Nunes, L.A., Golberger, A.L., Havlin, S., Rosenblum, M.G., Struzikk, Z.R., & Stanley, H.E. (1999). Multifractality in human heartbeat dynamics. Nature , 399, 461-465.         [ Links ]

Jeffrey, H.J. (1990). Chaos game representation of gene structure. Nucleic Acids Research , 18, 2163-2175.         [ Links ]

Mandelbrot, B. (1982). La geometría fractal de la naturaleza. Barcelona. España: Tusquets editores.         [ Links ]

Moon, F.C. (1992). Chaotic and fractal dynamics. New York: John Wiley.         [ Links ]

Moreno, P.A. (2005). Large scale and small scale bioinformatics studies on the Caenorhabditis elegans enome. Doctoral thesis. Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, USA.         [ Links ]

Moreno, P.A., Burgos, J.D., Vélez, P.E., Gutiérrez, J.M., & et al., (2000). Multifractal analysis of complete genomes. In P roceedings of the 12th International Genome Sequencing and Analysis Conference (pp. 80-81). Miami Beach (FL).         [ Links ]

Moreno, P.A., Rodríguez, J.G., Vélez, P.E., Cubillos, J.R., & Del Portillo, P. (2002). La genómica aplicada en salud humana. Colombia Ciencia y Tecnología. Colciencias , 20, 14-21.         [ Links ]

Moreno, P.A., Vélez, P.E., & Burgos, J.D. (2009). Biología molecular, genómica y post-genómica. Pioneros, principios y tecnologías. Popayán, Colombia: Editorial Universidad del Cauca.         [ Links ]

Moreno, P.A., Vélez, P.E., Martínez, E., Garreta, L., Díaz, D., Amador, S., Gutiérrez, J.M., et. al. (2011). The human genome: a multifractal analysis. BMC Genomics , 12, 506.         [ Links ]

Mount, D.W. (2004). Bioinformatics. Sequence and ge nome analysis. New York: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.         [ Links ]

Peitgen, H.O., Jürgen, H., & Saupe D. (1992). Chaos and Fractals. New Frontiers of Science. New York: Springer-Verlag.         [ Links ]

Restrepo, S., Pinzón, A., Rodríguez, L.M., Sierra, R., Grajales, A., Bernal, A., Barreto, E. et. al. (2009). Computational biology in Colombia. PLoS Computational Biology, 5 (10), e1000535.         [ Links ]

The ENCODE Project Consortium. (2012). An integrated encyclopedia of DNA elements in the human genome. Nature , 489, 57-74.         [ Links ]

Vélez, P.E., Garreta, L.E., Martínez, E., Díaz, N., Amador, S., Gutiérrez, J.M., Tischer, I., & Moreno, P.A. (2010). The Caenorhabditis elegans genome: a multifractal analysis. Genet and Mol Res , 9, 949-965.         [ Links ]

Venter, J.C., Adams, M.D., Myers, E.W., Li, P.W., & et al. (2001). The sequence of the human genome. Science , 291, 1304-1351.         [ Links ]

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CRACKING THE CODE OF HUMAN LIFE: The Birth of BioInformatics & Computational Genomics

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CRACKING THE CODE OF HUMAN LIFE: The Birth of BioInformatics & Computational Genomics – Part IIB

Curator: Larry H Bernstein, MD, FCAP

Part I: The Initiation and Growth of Molecular Biology and Genomics – Part I From Molecular Biology to Translational Medicine: How Far Have We Come, and Where Does It Lead Us?

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=8634&action=edit&message=1

Part II: CRACKING THE CODE OF HUMAN LIFE is divided into a three part series.

Part IIA. “CRACKING THE CODE OF HUMAN LIFE: Milestones along the Way” reviews the Human Genome Project and the decade beyond.

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/02/12/cracking-the-code-of-human-life-milestones-along-the-way/

Part IIB. “CRACKING THE CODE OF HUMAN LIFE: The Birth of BioInformatics & Computational Genomics” lays the manifold multivariate systems analytical tools that has moved the science forward to a groung that ensures clinical application.

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/02/13/cracking-the-code-of-human-life-the-birth-of-bioinformatics-and-computational-genomics/

Part IIC. “CRACKING THE CODE OF HUMAN LIFE: Recent Advances in Genomic Analysis and Disease “ will extend the discussion to advances in the management of patients as well as providing a roadmap for pharmaceutical drug targeting.

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/02/14/cracking-the-code-of-human-life-recent-advances-in-genomic-analysis-and-disease/

To be followed by:
Part III will conclude with Ubiquitin, it’s role in Signaling and Regulatory Control.

Part IIB. “CRACKING THE CODE OF HUMAN LIFE: The Birth of BioInformatics & Computational Genomics” is a continuation of a previous discussion on the role of genomics in discovery of therapeutic targets titled, Directions for Genomics in Personalized Medicinewhich focused on:

  • key drivers of cellular proliferation,
  • stepwise mutational changes coinciding with cancer progression, and
  • potential therapeutic targets for reversal of the process.

It is a direct extension of The Initiation and Growth of Molecular Biology and Genomics – Part I 

These articles review a web-like connectivity between inter-connected scientific discoveries, as significant findings have led to novel hypotheses and many expectations over the last 75 years. This largely post WWII revolution has driven our understanding of biological and medical processes at an exponential pace owing to successive discoveries of
  • chemical structure,
  • the basic building blocks of DNA  and proteins, of
  • nucleotide and protein-protein interactions,
  • protein folding,
  • allostericity,
  • genomic structure,
  • DNA replication,
  • nuclear polyribosome interaction, and
  • metabolic control.

Nucleotides_1.svg

In addition, the emergence of methods for

  • copying,
  • removal
  • insertion, and
  • improvements in structural analysis
  • developments in applied mathematics have transformed the research framework.

This last point,

  • developments in applied mathematics have transformed the research framework, is been developed in this very article

CRACKING THE CODE OF HUMAN LIFE: The Birth of BioInformatics & Computational Genomics – Part IIB

Computational Genomics

1. Three-Dimensional Folding and Functional Organization Principles of The Drosophila Genome

Sexton T, Yaffe E, Kenigeberg E, Bantignies F,…Cavalli G. Institute de Genetique Humaine, Montpelliere GenomiX, and Weissman Institute, France and Israel. Cell 2012; 148(3): 458-472.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2012.01.010/
http://www.cell.com/retrieve/pii/S0092867412000165
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22265598

Chromosomes are the physical realization of genetic information and thus form the basis for its readout and propagation.

250px-DNA_labeled  DNA diagram showing base pairing      circular genome map

Here we present a high-resolution chromosomal contact map derived from

  • a modified genome-wide chromosome conformation capture approach applied to Drosophila embryonic nuclei.
  • the entire genome is linearly partitioned into well-demarcated physical domains that overlap extensively with active and repressive epigenetic marks.
  • Chromosomal contacts are hierarchically organized between domains.
  • Global modeling of contact density and clustering of domains show that inactive
  • domains are condensed and confined to their chromosomal territories, whereas
  • active domains reach out of the territory to form remote intra- and interchromosomal contacts.

Moreover, we systematically identify

  • specific long-range intrachromosomal contacts between Polycomb-repressed domains.

Together, these observations

  • allow for quantitative prediction of the Drosophila chromosomal contact map,
  • laying the foundation for detailed studies of chromosome structure and function in a genetically tractable system.

fractal-globule

2A. Architecture Reveals Genome’s Secrets

Three-dimensional genome maps – Human chromosome

Genome sequencing projects have provided rich troves of information about

  • stretches of DNA that regulate gene expression, as well as
  • how different genetic sequences contribute to health and disease.

But these studies miss a key element of the genome—its spatial organization—which has long been recognized as an important regulator of gene expression.

  • Regulatory elements often lie thousands of base pairs away from their target genes, and recent technological advances are allowing scientists to begin examining
  • how distant chromosome locations interact inside a nucleus.
  • The creation and function of 3-D genome organization, some say, is the next frontier of genetics.

Mapping and sequencing may be completely separate processes. For example, it’s possible to determine the location of a gene—to “map” the gene—without sequencing it. Thus, a map may tell you nothing about the sequence of the genome, and a sequence may tell you nothing about the map.  But the landmarks on a map are DNA sequences, and mapping is the cousin of sequencing. A map of a sequence might look like this:
On this map, GCC is one landmark; CCCC is another. Here we find, the sequence is a landmark on a map. In general, particularly for humans and other species with large genomes,

  • creating a reasonably comprehensive genome map is quicker and cheaper than sequencing the entire genome.
  • mapping involves less information to collect and organize than sequencing does.

Completed in 2003, the Human Genome Project (HGP) was a 13-year project. The goals were:

  • identify all the approximately 20,000-25,000 genes in human DNA,
  • determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA,
  • store this information in databases,
  • improve tools for data analysis,
  • transfer related technologies to the private sector, and
  • address the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project.

Though the HGP is finished, analyses of the data will continue for many years. By licensing technologies to private companies and awarding grants for innovative research, the project catalyzed the multibillion-dollar U.S. biotechnology industry and fostered the development of new medical applications. When genes are expressed, their sequences are first converted into messenger RNA transcripts, which can be isolated in the form of complementary DNAs (cDNAs). A small portion of each cDNA sequence is all that is needed to develop unique gene markers, known as sequence tagged sites or STSs, which can be detected using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). To construct a transcript map, cDNA sequences from a master catalog of human genes were distributed to mapping laboratories in North America, Europe, and Japan. These cDNAs were converted to STSs and their physical locations on chromosomes determined on one of two radiation hybrid (RH) panels or a yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) library containing human genomic DNA. This mapping data was integrated relative to the human genetic map and then cross-referenced to cytogenetic band maps of the chromosomes. (Further details are available in the accompanying article in the 25 October issue of SCIENCE).

Tremendous progress has been made in the mapping of human genes, a major milestone in the Human Genome Project. Apart from its utility in advancing our understanding of the genetic basis of disease, it  provides a framework and focus for accelerated sequencing efforts by highlighting key landmarks (gene-rich regions) of the chromosomes. The construction of this map has been possible through the cooperative efforts of an international consortium of scientists who provide equal, full and unrestricted access to the data for the advancement of biology and human health.

There are two types of maps: genetic linkage map and physical map. The genetic linkage map shows the arrangement of genes and genetic markers along the chromosomes as calculated by the frequency with which they are inherited together. The physical map is representation of the chromosomes, providing the physical distance between landmarks on the chromosome, ideally measured in nucleotide bases. Physical maps can be divided into three general types: chromosomal or cytogenetic maps, radiation hybrid (RH) maps, and sequence maps.
 ch10f3  radiation hybrid maps   ch10f2  subchromosomal mapping

2B. Genome-nuclear lamina interactions and gene regulation.

Kind J, van Steensel B. Division of Gene Regulation, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
The nuclear lamina, a filamentous protein network that coats the inner nuclear membrane, has long been thought to interact with specific genomic loci and regulate their expression. Molecular mapping studies have now identified
  • large genomic domains that are in contact with the lamina.
Genes in these domains are typically repressed, and artificial tethering experiments indicate that
  • the lamina can actively contribute to this repression.
Furthermore, the lamina indirectly controls gene expression in the nuclear interior by sequestration of certain transcription factors.
Mol Cell. 2010; 38(4):603-13.          http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2010.03.016
Peric-Hupkes D, Meuleman W, Pagie L, Bruggeman SW, Solovei I,  …., van Steensel B.  Division of Gene Regulation, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
To visualize three-dimensional organization of chromosomes within the nucleus, we generated high-resolution maps of genome-nuclear lamina interactions during subsequent differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells via lineage-committed neural precursor cells into terminally differentiated astrocytes.  A basal chromosome architecture present in embryonic stem cells is cumulatively altered at hundreds of sites during lineage commitment and subsequent terminal differentiation. This remodeling involves both
  • individual transcription units and multigene regions and
  • affects many genes that determine cellular identity.
  •  genes that move away from the lamina are concomitantly activated;
  • others, remain inactive yet become unlocked for activation in a next differentiation step.

lamina-genome interactions are widely involved in the control of gene expression programs during lineage commitment and terminal differentiation.

 view the full text on ScienceDirect.
Graphical Summary
PDF 1.54 MB
Referred to by: The Silence of the LADs: Dynamic Genome-…
Authors:  Daan Peric-Hupkes, Wouter Meuleman, Ludo Pagie, Sophia W.M. Bruggeman, et al.
Highlights
  • Various cell types share a core architecture of genome-nuclear lamina interactions
  • During differentiation, hundreds of genes change their lamina interactions
  • Changes in lamina interactions reflect cell identity
  • Release from the lamina may unlock some genes for activation

Fractal “globule”

About 10 years ago—just as the human genome project was completing its first draft sequence—Dekker pioneered a new technique, called chromosome conformation capture (C3) that allowed researchers to get a glimpse of how chromosomes are arranged relative to each other in the nucleus. The technique relies on the physical cross-linking of chromosomal regions that lie in close proximity to one another. The regions are then sequenced to identify which regions have been cross-linked. In 2009, using a high throughput version of this basic method, called Hi-C, Dekker and his collaborators discovered that the human genome appears to adopt a “fractal globule” conformation—

  • a manner of crumpling without knotting.

gabst_EK.pptx

In the last 3 years, Jobe Dekker and others have advanced technology even further, allowing them to paint a more refined picture of how the genome folds—and how this influences gene expression and disease states.  Dekker’s 2009 findings were a breakthrough in modeling genome folding, but the resolution—about 1 million base pairs— was too crude to allow scientists to really understand how genes interacted with specific regulatory elements. The researchers report two striking findings.

First, the human genome is organized into two separate compartments, keeping

  • active genes separate and accessible
  • while sequestering unused DNA in a denser storage compartment.
  • Chromosomes snake in and out of the two compartments repeatedly
  • as their DNA alternates between active, gene-rich and inactive, gene-poor stretches.

Second, at a finer scale, the genome adopts an unusual organization known in mathematics as a “fractal.” The specific architecture the scientists found, called

  • a “fractal globule,” enables the cell to pack DNA incredibly tightly —

the information density in the nucleus is trillions of times higher than on a computer chip — while avoiding the knots and tangles that might interfere with the cell’s ability to read its own genome. Moreover, the DNA can easily Unfold and Refold during

  • gene activation,
  • gene repression, and
  • cell replication.

Dekker and his colleagues discovered, for example, that chromosomes can be divided into folding domains—megabase-long segments within which

  • genes and regulatory elements associate more often with one another than with other chromosome sections.

The DNA forms loops within the domains that bring a gene into close proximity with a specific regulatory element at a distant location along the chromosome. Another group, that of molecular biologist Bing Ren at the University of California, San Diego, published a similar finding in the same issue of Nature.  Dekker thinks the discovery of [folding] domains will be one of the most fundamental [genetics] discoveries of the last 10 years. The big questions now are

  • how these domains are formed, and
  • what determines which elements are looped into proximity.

“By breaking the genome into millions of pieces, we created a spatial map showing how close different parts are to one another,” says co-first author Nynke van Berkum, a postdoctoral researcher at UMass Medical School in Dekker‘s laboratory. “We made a fantastic three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle and then, with a computer, solved the puzzle.”

Lieberman-Aiden, van Berkum, Lander, and Dekker’s co-authors are Bryan R. Lajoie of UMMS; Louise Williams, Ido Amit, and Andreas Gnirke of the Broad Institute; Maxim Imakaev and Leonid A. Mirny of MIT; Tobias Ragoczy, Agnes Telling, and Mark Groudine of the Fred Hutchison, Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington; Peter J. Sabo, Michael O. Dorschner, Richard Sandstrom, M.A. Bender, and John Stamatoyannopoulos of the University of Washington; and Bradley Bernstein of the Broad Institute and Harvard Medical School.

2C. three-dimensional structure of the human genome

Lieberman-Aiden et al. Comprehensive mapping of long-range interactions reveals folding principles of the human genome. Science, 2009; DOI: 10.1126/science.1181369.
Harvard University (2009, October 11). 3-D Structure Of Human Genome: Fractal Globule Architecture Packs Two Meters Of DNA Into Each Cell. ScienceDaily.   Retrieved February 2, 2013, from        http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091008142957

Using a new technology called Hi-C and applying it to answer the thorny question of how each of our cells stows some three billion base pairs of DNA while maintaining access to functionally crucial segments. The paper comes from a team led by scientists at Harvard University, the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, University of Massachusetts Medical School, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “We’ve long known that on a small scale, DNA is a double helix,” says co-first author Erez Lieberman-Aiden, a graduate student in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Science and Technology and a researcher at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and in the laboratory of Eric Lander at the Broad Institute. “But if the double helix didn’t fold further, the genome in each cell would be two meters long. Scientists have not really understood how the double helix folds to fit into the nucleus of a human cell, which is only about a hundredth of a millimeter in diameter. This new approach enabled us to probe exactly that question.”

The mapping technique that Aiden and his colleagues have come up with bridges a crucial gap in knowledge—between what goes on at the smallest levels of genetics (the double helix of DNA and the base pairs) and the largest levels (the way DNA is gathered up into the 23 chromosomes that contain much of the human genome). The intermediate level, on the order of thousands or millions of base pairs, has remained murky.  As the genome is so closely wound, base pairs in one end can be close to others at another end in ways that are not obvious merely by knowing the sequence of base pairs. Borrowing from work that was started in the 1990s, Aiden and others have been able to figure out which base pairs have wound up next  to one another. From there, they can begin to reconstruct the genome—in three dimensions.

4C profiles validate the Hi-C Genome wide map

Even as the multi-dimensional mapping techniques remain in their early stages, their importance in basic biological research is becoming ever more apparent. “The three-dimensional genome is a powerful thing to know,” Aiden says. “A central mystery of biology is the question of how different cells perform different functions—despite the fact that they share the same genome.” How does a liver cell, for example, “know” to perform its liver duties when it contains the same genome as a cell in the eye? As Aiden and others reconstruct the trail of letters into a three-dimensional entity, they have begun to see that “the way the genome is folded determines which genes were

2D. “Mr. President; The Genome is Fractal !”

Eric Lander (Science Adviser to the President and Director of Broad Institute) et al. delivered the message on Science Magazine cover (Oct. 9, 2009) and generated interest in this by the International HoloGenomics Society at a Sept meeting.

First, it may seem to be trivial to rectify the statement in “About cover” of Science Magazine by AAAS.

  • The statement “the Hilbert curve is a one-dimensional fractal trajectory” needs mathematical clarification.

The mathematical concept of a Hilbert space, named after David Hilbert, generalizes the notion of Euclidean space. It extends the methods of vector algebra and calculus from the two-dimensional Euclidean plane and three-dimensional space to spaces with any finite or infinite number of dimensions. A Hilbert space is an abstract vector space possessing the structure of an inner product that allows length and angle to be measured. Furthermore, Hilbert spaces must be complete, a property that stipulates the existence of enough limits in the space to allow the techniques of calculus to be used. A Hilbert curve (also known as a Hilbert space-filling curve) is a continuous fractal space-filling curve first described by the German mathematician David Hilbert in 1891,[1] as a variant of the space-filling curves discovered by Giuseppe Peano in 1890.[2] For multidimensional databases, Hilbert order has been proposed to be used instead of Z order because it has better locality-preserving behavior.

Representation as Lindenmayer system
The Hilbert Curve can be expressed by a rewrite system (L-system).

Alphabet : A, B

Constants : F + –                                                                                                                                      119px-Hilbert3d-step3                             120px-Hilbert512

Axiom : A

Production rules:

A → – B F + A F A + F B –

B → + A F – B F B – F A +

Here, F means “draw forward”, – means “turn left 90°”, and + means “turn right 90°” (see turtle graphics).

620px-Harmonic_partials_on_strings.svg

While the paper itself does not make this statement, the new Editorship of the AAAS Magazine might be even more advanced if the previous Editorship did not reject (without review) a Manuscript by 20+ Founders of (formerly) International PostGenetics Society in December, 2006.

Second, it may not be sufficiently clear for the reader that the reasonable requirement for the DNA polymerase to crawl along a “knot-free” (or “low knot”) structure does not need fractals. A “knot-free” structure could be spooled by an ordinary “knitting globule” (such that the DNA polymerase does not bump into a “knot” when duplicating the strand; just like someone knitting can go through the entire thread without encountering an annoying knot): Just to be “knot-free” you don’t need fractals. Note, however, that

  • the “strand” can be accessed only at its beginning – it is impossible to e.g. to pluck a segment from deep inside the “globulus”.

This is where certain fractals provide a major advantage – that could be the “Eureka” moment for many readers. For instance,

  • the mentioned Hilbert-curve is not only “knot free” –
  • but provides an easy access to “linearly remote” segments of the strand.

If the Hilbert curve starts from the lower right corner and ends at the lower left corner, for instance

  • the path shows the very easy access of what would be the mid-point
  • if the Hilbert-curve is measured by the Euclidean distance along the zig-zagged path.

Likewise, even the path from the beginning of the Hilbert-curve is about equally easy to access – easier than to reach from the origin a point that is about 2/3 down the path. The Hilbert-curve provides an easy access between two points within the “spooled thread”; from a point that is about 1/5 of the overall length to about 3/5 is also in a “close neighborhood”.

This may be the “Eureka-moment” for some readers, to realize that

  • the strand of “the Double Helix” requires quite a finess to fold into the densest possible globuli (the chromosomes) in a clever way
  • that various segments can be easily accessed. Moreover, in a way that distances between various segments are minimized.

This marvellous fractal structure is illustrated by the 3D rendering of the Hilbert-curve. Once you observe such fractal structure, you’ll never again think of a chromosome as a “brillo mess”, would you? It will dawn on you that the genome is orders of magnitudes more finessed than we ever thought so.

Those embarking at a somewhat complex review of some historical aspects of the power of fractals may wish to consult the ouvre of Mandelbrot (also, to celebrate his 85th birthday). For the more sophisticated readers, even the fairly simple Hilbert-curve (a representative of the Peano-class) becomes even more stunningly brilliant than just some “see through density”. Those who are familiar with the classic “Traveling Salesman Problem” know that “the shortest path along which every given n locations can be visited once, and only once” requires fairly sophisticated algorithms (and tremendous amount of computation if n>10 (or much more). Some readers will be amazed, therefore, that for n=9 the underlying Hilbert-curve helps to provide an empirical solution.

refer to pellionisz@junkdna.com

Briefly, the significance of the above realization, that the (recursive) Fractal Hilbert Curve is intimately connected to the (recursive) solution of TravelingSalesman Problem, a core-concept of Artificial Neural Networks can be summarized as below.

Accomplished physicist John Hopfield (already a member of the National Academy of Science) aroused great excitement in 1982 with his (recursive) design of artificial neural networks and learning algorithms which were able to find reasonable solutions to combinatorial problems such as the Traveling SalesmanProblem. (Book review Clark Jeffries, 1991, see also 2. J. Anderson, R. Rosenfeld, and A. Pellionisz (eds.), Neurocomputing 2: Directions for research, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1990):

“Perceptions were modeled chiefly with neural connections in a “forward” direction: A -> B -* C — D. The analysis of networks with strong backward coupling proved intractable. All our interesting results arise as consequences of the strong back-coupling” (Hopfield, 1982).

The Principle of Recursive Genome Function surpassed obsolete axioms that blocked, for half a Century, entry of recursive algorithms to interpretation of the structure-and function of (Holo)Genome.  This breakthrough, by uniting the two largely separate fields of Neural Networks and Genome Informatics, is particularly important for

  • those who focused on Biological (actually occurring) Neural Networks (rather than abstract algorithms that may not, or because of their core-axioms, simply could not
  • represent neural networks under the governance of DNA information).

DNA base triplets

3A. The FractoGene Decade

from Inception in 2002 to Proofs of Concept and Impending Clinical Applications by 2012

  1. Junk DNA Revisited (SF Gate, 2002)
  2. The Future of Life, 50th Anniversary of DNA (Monterey, 2003)
  3. Mandelbrot and Pellionisz (Stanford, 2004)
  4. Morphogenesis, Physiology and Biophysics (Simons, Pellionisz 2005)
  5. PostGenetics; Genetics beyond Genes (Budapest, 2006)
  6. ENCODE-conclusion (Collins, 2007)

The Principle of Recursive Genome Function (paper, YouTube, 2008)

  1. Cold Spring Harbor presentation of FractoGene (Cold Spring Harbor, 2009)
  2. Mr. President, the Genome is Fractal! (2009)
  3. HolGenTech, Inc. Founded (2010)
  4. Pellionisz on the Board of Advisers in the USA and India (2011)
  5. ENCODE – final admission (2012)
  6. Recursive Genome Function is Clogged by Fractal Defects in Hilbert-Curve (2012)
  7. Geometric Unification of Neuroscience and Genomics (2012)
  8. US Patent Office issues FractoGene 8,280,641 to Pellionisz (2012)

http://www.junkdna.com/the_fractogene_decade.pdf
http://www.scribd.com/doc/116159052/The-Decade-of-FractoGene-From-Discovery-to-Utility-Proofs-of-Concept-Open-Genome-Based-Clinical-Applications
http://fractogene.com/full_genome/morphogenesis.html

When the human genome was first sequenced in June 2000, there were two pretty big surprises. The first was thathumans have only about 30,000-40,000 identifiable genes, not the 100,000 or more many researchers were expecting. The lower –and more humbling — number

  • means humans have just one-third more genes than a common species of worm.

The second stunner was

  • how much human genetic material — more than 90 percent — is made up of what scientists were calling “junk DNA.”

The term was coined to describe similar but not completely identical repetitive sequences of amino acids (the same substances that make genes), which appeared to have no function or purpose. The main theory at the time was that these apparently non-working sections of DNA were just evolutionary leftovers, much like our earlobes.

If biophysicist Andras Pellionisz is correct, genetic science may be on the verge of yielding its third — and by far biggest — surprise.

With a doctorate in physics, Pellionisz is the holder of Ph.D.’s in computer sciences and experimental biology from the prestigious Budapest Technical University and the Hungarian National Academy of Sciences. A biophysicist by training, the 59-year-old is a former research associate professor of physiology and biophysics at New York University, author of numerous papers in respected scientific journals and textbooks, a past winner of the prestigious Humboldt Prize for scientific research, a former consultant to NASA and holder of a patent on the world’s first artificial cerebellum, a technology that has already been integrated into research on advanced avionics systems. Because of his background, the Hungarian-born brain researcher might also become one of the first people to successfully launch a new company by using the Internet to gather momentum for a novel scientific idea.

The genes we know about today, Pellionisz says, can be thought of as something similar to machines that make bricks (proteins, in the case of genes), with certain junk-DNA sections providing a blueprint for the different ways those proteins are assembled. The notion that at least certain parts of junk DNA might have a purpose for example, many researchers now refer to with a far less derogatory term: introns.

In a provisional patent application filed July 31, Pellionisz claims to have unlocked a key to the hidden role junk DNA plays in growth — and in life itself. His patent application covers all attempts to count, measure and compare the fractal properties of introns for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

3B. The Hidden Fractal Language of Intron DNA

To fully understand Pellionisz’ idea, one must first know what a fractal is.

Fractals are a way that nature organizes matter. Fractal patterns can be found in anything that has a nonsmooth surface (unlike a billiard ball), such as coastal seashores, the branches of a tree or the contours of a neuron (a nerve cell in the brain). Some, but not all, fractals are self-similar and stop repeating their patterns at some stage; the branches of a tree, for example, can get only so small. Because they are geometric, meaning they have a shape, fractals can be described in mathematical terms. It’s similar to the way a circle can be described by using a number to represent its radius (the distance from its center to its outer edge). When that number is known, it’s possible to draw the circle it represents without ever having seen it before.

Although the math is much more complicated, the same is true of fractals. If one has the formula for a given fractal, it’s possible to use that formula

  • to construct, or reconstruct,
  • an image of whatever structure it represents,
  • no matter how complicated.

The mysteriously repetitive but not identical strands of genetic material are in reality building instructions organized in a special type

  • of pattern known as a fractal.  It’s this pattern of fractal instructions, he says, that
  • tells genes what they must do in order to form living tissue,
  • everything from the wings of a fly to the entire body of a full-grown human.

In a move sure to alienate some scientists, Pellionisz has chosen the unorthodox route of making his initial disclosures online on his own Web site. He picked that strategy, he says, because it is the fastest way he can document his claims and find scientific collaborators and investors. Most mainstream scientists usually blanch at such approaches, preferring more traditionally credible methods, such as publishing articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Basically, Pellionisz’ idea is that a fractal set of building instructions in the DNA plays a similar role in organizing life itself. Decode the way that language works, he says, and in theory it could be reverse engineered. Just as knowing the radius of a circle lets one create that circle, the more complicated fractal-based formula would allow us to understand how nature creates a heart or simpler structures, such as disease-fighting antibodies. At a minimum, we’d get a far better understanding of how nature gets that job done.

The complicated quality of the idea is helping encourage new collaborations across the boundaries that sometimes separate the increasingly intertwined disciplines of biology, mathematics and computer sciences.

Hal Plotkin, Special to SF Gate. Thursday, November 21, 2002.                          http://www.junkdna.com/Special to SF Gate/plotkin.htm (1 of 10)2012.12.13. 12:11:58/

fractogene_2002

3C. multifractal analysis

The human genome: a multifractal analysis. Moreno PA, Vélez PE, Martínez E, et al.

BMC Genomics 2011, 12:506. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/12/506

Background: Several studies have shown that genomes can be studied via a multifractal formalism. Recently, we used a multifractal approach to study the genetic information content of the Caenorhabditis elegans genome. Here we investigate the possibility that the human genome shows a similar behavior to that observed in the nematode.
Results: We report here multifractality in the human genome sequence. This behavior correlates strongly on the

  • presence of Alu elements and
  • to a lesser extent on CpG islands and (G+C) content.

In contrast, no or low relationship was found for LINE, MIR, MER, LTRs elements and DNA regions poor in genetic information.

  • Gene function,
  • cluster of orthologous genes,
  • metabolic pathways, and
  • exons tended to increase their frequencies with ranges of multifractality and
  • large gene families were located in genomic regions with varied multifractality.

Additionally, a multifractal map and classification for human chromosomes are proposed.

Conclusions

we propose a descriptive non-linear model for the structure of the human genome,

This model reveals

  • a multifractal regionalization where many regions coexist that are far from equilibrium and
  • this non-linear organization has significant molecular and medical genetic implications for understanding the role of
  • Alu elements in genome stability and structure of the human genome.

Given the role of Alu sequences in

  • gene regulation,
  • genetic diseases,
  • human genetic diversity,
  • adaptation
  • and phylogenetic analyses,

these quantifications are especially useful.

MiIP: The Monomer Identification and Isolation Program

Bun C, Ziccardi W, Doering J and Putonti C.Evolutionary Bioinformatics 2012:8 293-300.    http://dx.goi.org/10.4137/EBO.S9248

Repetitive elements within genomic DNA are both functionally and evolutionarilly informative. Discovering these sequences ab initio is

  • computationally challenging, compounded by the fact that
  • sequence identity between repetitive elements can vary significantly.

Here we present a new application, the Monomer Identification and Isolation Program (MiIP), which provides functionality to both

  • search for a particular repeat as well as
  • discover repetitive elements within a larger genomic sequence.

To compare MiIP’s performance with other repeat detection tools, analysis was conducted for

  • synthetic sequences as well as
  • several a21-II clones and
  • HC21 BAC sequences.

The primary benefit of MiIP is the fact that it is a single tool capable of searching for both

  • known monomeric sequences as well as
  • discovering the occurrence of repeats ab initio, per the user’s required sensitivity of the search.

Methods for Examining Genomic and Proteomic Interactions

1. An Integrated Statistical Approach to Compare Transcriptomics Data Across Experiments: A Case Study on the Identification of Candidate Target Genes of the Transcription Factor PPARα

Ullah MO, Müller M and Hooiveld GJEJ. Bioinformatics and Biology Insights 2012:6 145–154.       http://dx.doi.org/10.4137/BBI.S9529

http://www.la- press.com/
http://bionformaticsandBiologyInsights.com/An_Integrated_Statistical_Approach_to_Compare_ transcriptomic_Data_Across_Experiments-A-Case_Study_on_the_Identification_ of_Candidate_Target_Genes_of_the Transcription_Factor_PPARα/
Corresponding author email: guido.hooiveld@wur.nl

An effective strategy to elucidate the signal transduction cascades activated by a transcription factor is to compare the transcriptional profiles of wild type and transcription factor knockout models. Many statistical tests have been proposed for analyzing gene expression data, but most

  • tests are based on pair-wise comparisons. Since the analysis of microarrays involves the testing of multiple hypotheses within one study, it is
  • generally accepted that one should control for false positives by the false discovery rate (FDR). However, it has been reported that
  • this may be an inappropriate metric for comparing data across different experiments.

Here we propose an approach that addresses the above mentioned problem by the simultaneous testing and integration of the three hypotheses (contrasts) using the cell means ANOVA model.

These three contrasts test for the effect of

  • a treatment in wild type,
  • gene knockout, and
  • globally over all experimental groups.

We illustrate our approach on microarray experiments that focused on the identification of candidate target genes and biological processes governed by the fatty acid sensing transcription factor PPARα in liver. Compared to the often applied FDR based across experiment comparison, our approach identified a conservative but less noisy set of candidate genes with same sensitivity and specificity. However, our method had the advantage of

  • properly adjusting for multiple testing while
  • integrating data from two experiments, and
  • was driven by biological inference.

We present a simple, yet efficient strategy to compare

  • differential expression of genes across experiments
  • while controlling for multiple hypothesis testing.

2. Managing biological complexity across orthologs with a visual knowledgebase of documented biomolecular interactions

Vincent VanBuren & Hailin Chen.   Scientific Reports 2, Article number: 1011  Received 02 October 2012 Accepted 04 December 2012 Published 20 December 2012
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep01011

The complexity of biomolecular interactions and influences is a major obstacle to their comprehension and elucidation. Visualizing knowledge of biomolecular interactions increases comprehension and facilitates the development of new hypotheses. The rapidly changing landscape of high-content experimental results also presents a challenge for the maintenance of comprehensive knowledgebases. Distributing the responsibility for maintenance of a knowledgebase to a community of subject matter experts is an effective strategy for large, complex and rapidly changing knowledgebases.
Cognoscente serves these needs by

  • building visualizations for queries of biomolecular interactions on demand,
  • by managing the complexity of those visualizations, and
  • by crowdsourcing to promote the incorporation of current knowledge from the literature.

Imputing functional associations between biomolecules and imputing directionality of regulation for those predictions each

  • require a corpus of existing knowledge as a framework to build upon. Comprehension of the complexity of this corpus of knowledge
  • will be facilitated by effective visualizations of the corresponding biomolecular interaction networks.

Cognoscente

http://vanburenlab.medicine.tamhsc.edu/cognoscente.html
was designed and implemented to serve these roles as

  • a knowledgebase and
  • as an effective visualization tool for systems biology research and education.

Cognoscente currently contains over 413,000 documented interactions, with coverage across multiple species.  Perl, HTML, GraphViz1, and a MySQL database were used in the development of Cognoscente. Cognoscente was motivated by the need to

  • update the knowledgebase of biomolecular interactions at the user level, and
  • flexibly visualize multi-molecule query results for heterogeneous interaction types across different orthologs.

Satisfying these needs provides a strong foundation for developing new hypotheses about regulatory and metabolic pathway topologies.  Several existing tools provide functions that are similar to Cognoscente, so we selected several popular alternatives to

  • assess how their feature sets compare with Cognoscente ( Table 1 ). All databases assessed had
  • easily traceable documentation for each interaction, and
  • included protein-protein interactions in the database.

Most databases, with the exception of BIND,

  • provide an open-access database that can be downloaded as a whole.

Most databases, with the exceptions of EcoCyc and HPRD, provide

  • support for multiple organisms.

Most databases support web services for interacting with the database contents programatically, whereas this is a planned feature for Cognoscente.

  • INT, STRING, IntAct, EcoCyc, DIP and Cognoscente provide built-in visualizations of query results,
  • which we consider among the most important features for facilitating comprehension of query results.
  • BIND supports visualizations via Cytoscape. Cognoscente is among a few other tools that support multiple organisms in the same query,
  • protein->DNA interactions, and
  • multi-molecule queries.

Cognoscente has planned support for small molecule interactants (i.e. pharmacological agents).  MINT, STRING, and IntAct provide a prediction (i.e. score) of functional associations, whereas
Cognoscente does not currently support this. Cognoscente provides support for multiple edge encodings to visualize different types of interactions in the same display,

  • a crowdsourcing web portal that allows users to submit interactions
  • that are then automatically incorporated in the knowledgebase, and displays orthologs as compound nodes to provide clues about potential
  • orthologous interactions.

The main strengths of Cognoscente are that

  1. it provides a combined feature set that is superior to any existing database,
  2. it provides a unique visualization feature for orthologous molecules, and relatively unique support for
  3. multiple edge encodings,
  4. crowdsourcing, and
  5. connectivity parameterization.

The current weaknesses of Cognoscente relative to these other tools are

  • that it does not fully support web service interactions with the database,
  • it does not fully support small molecule interactants, and
  • it does not score interactions to predict functional associations.

Web services and support for small molecule interactants are currently under development.

Other related articles on thie Open Access Online Sceintific Journal, include the following:

Big Data in Genomic Medicine                    lhb                          http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/12/17/big-data-in-genomic-medicine/

BRCA1 a tumour suppressor in breast and ovarian cancer – functions in transcription, ubiquitination and DNA repair S Saha                                                                                   http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/12/04/brca1-a-tumour-suppressor-in-breast-and-ovarian-cancer-functions-in-transcription-ubiquitination-and-dna-repair/

Computational Genomics Center: New Unification of Computational Technologies at Stanford A Lev-Ari    http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/12/03/computational-genomics-center-new-unification-of-computational-technologies-at-stanford/

Paradigm Shift in Human Genomics – Predictive Biomarkers and Personalized Medicine – Part 1 (pharmaceuticalintelligence.com) A Lev-Ari http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/01/13/paradigm-shift-in-human-genomics-predictive-biomarkers-and-personalized-medicine-part-1/

LEADERS in Genome Sequencing of Genetic Mutations for Therapeutic Drug Selection in Cancer Personalized Treatment: Part 2 A Lev-Ari
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/01/13/leaders-in-genome-sequencing-of-genetic-mutations-for-therapeutic-drug-selection-in-cancer-personalized-treatment-part-2/

Personalized Medicine: An Institute Profile – Coriell Institute for Medical Research: Part 3 A Lev-Ari http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/01/13/personalized-medicine-an-institute-profile-coriell-institute-for-medical-research-part-3/

GSK for Personalized Medicine using Cancer Drugs needs Alacris systems biology model to determine the in silico effect of the inhibitor in its “virtual clinical trial” A Lev-Ari    http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/11/14/gsk-for-personalized-medicine-using-cancer-drugs-needs-alacris-systems-biology-model-to-determine-the-in-silico-effect-of-the-inhibitor-in-its-virtual-clinical-trial/

Recurrent somatic mutations in chromatin-remodeling and ubiquitin ligase complex genes in serous endometrial tumors S Saha
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/11/19/recurrent-somatic-mutations-in-chromatin-remodeling-and-ubiquitin-ligase-complex-genes-in-serous-endometrial-tumors/

Human Variome Project: encyclopedic catalog of sequence variants indexed to the human genome sequence A Lev-Ari

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/11/24/human-variome-project-encyclopedic-catalog-of-sequence-variants-indexed-to-the-human-genome-sequence/

Prostate Cancer Cells: Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors Induce Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition sjwilliams
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/11/30/histone-deacetylase-inhibitors-induce-epithelial-to-mesenchymal-transition-in-prostate-cancer-cells/

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/01/09/the-cancer-establishments-examined-by-james-watson-co-discover-of-dna-wcrick-41953/

Directions for genomics in personalized medicine lhb http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/01/27/directions-for-genomics-in-personalized-medicine/

How mobile elements in “Junk” DNA promote cancer. Part 1: Transposon-mediated tumorigenesis. Sjwilliams
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/10/31/how-mobile-elements-in-junk-dna-prote-cancer-part1-transposon-mediated-tumorigenesis/

Mitochondrial fission and fusion: potential therapeutic targets? Ritu saxena    http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/10/31/mitochondrial-fission-and-fusion-potential-therapeutic-target/

Mitochondrial mutation analysis might be “1-step” away ritu saxena  http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/08/14/mitochondrial-mutation-analysis-might-be-1-step-away/

mRNA interference with cancer expression lhb http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/10/26/mrna-interference-with-cancer-expression/

Expanding the Genetic Alphabet and linking the genome to the metabolome http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/09/24/expanding-the-genetic-alphabet-and-linking-the-genome-to-the-metabolome/

Breast Cancer: Genomic profiling to predict Survival: Combination of Histopathology and Gene Expression Analysis A Lev-Ari

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/12/24/breast-cancer-genomic-profiling-to-predict-survival-combination-of-histopathology-and-gene-expression-analysis/

Ubiquinin-Proteosome pathway, autophagy, the mitochondrion, proteolysis and cell apoptosis lhb http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/10/30/ubiquinin-proteosome-pathway-autophagy-the-mitochondrion-proteolysis-and-cell-apoptosis/

Genomic Analysis: FLUIDIGM Technology in the Life Science and Agricultural Biotechnology A Lev-Ari http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/08/22/genomic-analysis-fluidigm-technology-in-the-life-science-and-agricultural-biotechnology/

2013 Genomics: The Era Beyond the Sequencing Human Genome: Francis Collins, Craig Venter, Eric Lander, et al.  http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013_Genomics

Paradigm Shift in Human Genomics – Predictive Biomarkers and Personalized Medicine – Part 1 http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/Paradigm Shift in Human Genomics_/

English: DNA replication or DNA synthesis is t...

English: DNA replication or DNA synthesis is the process of copying a double-stranded DNA molecule. This process is paramount to all life as we know it. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Français : Deletion chromosomique

Français : Deletion chromosomique (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A slight mutation in the matched nucleotides c...

A slight mutation in the matched nucleotides can lead to chromosomal aberrations and unintentional genetic rearrangement. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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