Stoltzfus A, Spencer D F, Doolittle W F
Department of Biochemistry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Comput Appl Biosci. 1995 Oct;11(5):509-15. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/11.5.509.
According to the exon theory of genes, protein-coding genes evolved originally by combinatorial assembly of mini-gene precursors of modern exons. If so, then exons should tend to encode discrete bits of protein structure, as first suggested by C.C.F. Blake. In order to assess the evidence for Blake's conjecture, we have developed methods for evaluating the significance of correspondences between split gene structure and protein structure, using computer programs for measuring observed correspondences and comparing them to random expectations. Initial results of applying these methods to data on ancient proteins have been presented elsewhere. Here we describe the algorithms in detail, and demonstrate their effectiveness in finding correlations in idealized test cases. The likely effects of deletion and putative displacement ('sliding') of introns on the ability to detect correlations are also examined.
根据基因的外显子理论，蛋白质编码基因最初是通过现代外显子的微型基因前体的组合组装而进化的。如果是这样，那么外显子应该倾向于编码蛋白质结构的离散片段，这是C.C.F.布莱克最早提出的。为了评估支持布莱克猜想的证据，我们开发了一些方法，利用计算机程序来测量观察到的对应关系并将其与随机预期进行比较，以评估分裂基因结构与蛋白质结构之间对应关系的显著性。将这些方法应用于古代蛋白质数据的初步结果已在其他地方发表。在这里，我们详细描述这些算法，并证明它们在理想化测试案例中寻找相关性的有效性。我们还研究了内含子的缺失和假定的移位（“滑动”）对检测相关性能力的可能影响。
