Determination of Potential Antisense Targets for Human Beta-Globin Variants

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Arrigo, Patrizio | Ivaldi, Giovanni | Cardo, Pasquale Paolo

Affiliations: CNR - Istituto Circuiti Elettronici via De Marini, 6 - Genova, Italy Email: [email protected] | Ospedali Galliera - Laboratorio di Genetica Umana via Mura delle Cappuccine, 14, Genova, Italy | Università degli Studi di Genova - Dip. Scienze della Salute v.le Benedetto XV, 7, Genova, Italy

Abstract: The functional characterization of available genomic sequences is the major task of the research in the post-genome era. This complex task requires an integrative approach of high-throughput systems with in vitro and in vivo models in order to have a reliable evaluation of the biological function. The oligonucleotide antisense technology is one of the most promising approaches for the investigation of gene function; the crucial point of antisense experiments is the identification of optimal target sites for hybridisation. In this paper we have applied a bioinformatic tool for the recognition of optimal antisense targets. In order to evaluate the effect of mutational events on target selection we have tested the program on a sample of human ?-hemoglobin variants. The proposed algorithm software will be integrated in a web based tool at the site: http://www.nettab.org/agewa

Keywords: Antisense , oligonucleotide, hybridisation, point mutation, molecular diagnostic, gene functionalization, artificial neural networks, unsupervised learning

Journal: In Silico Biology , vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 143-150, 2002