ABSTRACT
Algorithm: a set of operations necessary to carry out a task; the word derives from a Persian mathematician, Abu Jàfar Mohammed ibn Mûsâ alKhowârizmî, who wrote a book on arithmetic around 800 A.D.
Artificial neural networks: algorithms capable of optimizing their parameters so as to reproduce an observed relationship between input and output data; after parameter optimization, network can be used for predicting the output
Eukaryote: organism with nucleated cells Internet: large set of computers connected around the world LINE: long interspersed nuclear sequences; long DNA regions (>1000 bp)
repeated in the genome Markov model: a sequence of states in which the probability of a state only
depends on the previous one; named after Andrei Andreyevich Markov (1856-1922), a mathematician who studied poems and other texts as random sequences
ORF: open reading frame; a DNA sequence that does not contain a stop codon in at least one of the six possible reading frames
Primer walking: a DNA sequencing method in which already sequenced regions are used to design the primers for the next round of sequencing
Prokaryote: organism with non-nucleated cells Sensitivity of a prediction method: the ability of a predictive method to detect
a condition when, in fact, it is present Shotgun: a DNA sequencing method in which the region to be sequenced is
randomly fragmented, giving short redundant fragments that partially overlap
SINE: short interspersed nuclear sequences; short DNA regions (<1000 bp) repeated in the genome
Site-specific scoring matrices: matrices containing in each cell a value related to the probability that the base (or the amino acid) corresponding to the row occurs in the position corresponding to the column
Specificity of a prediction method: the ability of a predictive method to detect that a condition is not present when, in fact, it is not present
Splicing: processing of the newly transcribed RNA molecule, which excises the introns, joins adjacent exons, and produces a molecule of messenger RNA (mRNA)
Synonymous codons: codons encoding for the same amino acid WWW: World Wide Web; network of documents connected by the Internet
When genome analysis is mentioned, we all tend to think about the human genome. Even if Homo sapiens is only one of the many species whose genome has been sequenced, there is no doubt that our expectations are all focused on the information that we can gather about ourselves and our species. But, what is this information?
