18749157
A case study in genome-level fragment assembly
MOTIVATION
We use the fact of two teams independently sequencing the one megabase genome of Borrelia burgdorferi as an opportunity to study the accuracy of genome-level assembly.


RESULTS
We compare the results of three different assembly programs (PHRAP, TIGR Assembler, and STROLL) on the DNA fragments used in both the Brookhaven and TIGR sequencing projects. We also describe the algorithms and data structures used in our assembly program STROLL, which was used in the Brookhaven Borrelia project.
31567164
Prediction of protein function using protein-protein interaction data
Assigning functions to novel proteins is one of the most important problems in the post-genomic era. We develop a novel approach that applies the theory of Markov random fields to infer a protein's functions using protein-protein interaction data and the functional annotations of its interaction protein partners. For each function of interest and a protein, we predict the probability that the protein has that function using Bayesian approaches. Unlike in other available approaches for protein annotation where a protein has or does not have a function of interest, we give a probability for having the function. This probability indicates how confident we are about the prediction. We apply our method to predict cellular functions (43 categories including a category "others") for yeast proteins defined in the Yeast Proteome Database, using the protein-protein interaction data from the Munich Information Center for Protein Sequences. We show that our approach outperforms other available methods for function prediction based on protein interaction data.
8315237
Local Lazy Regression: Making Use of the Neighborhood to Improve QSAR Predictions
Traditional quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models aim to capture global structure-activity trends present in a data set. In many situations, there may be groups of molecules which exhibit a specific set of features which relate to their activity or inactivity. Such a group of features can be said to represent a local structure-activity relationship. Traditional QSAR models may not recognize such local relationships. In this work, we investigate the use of local lazy regression (LLR), which obtains a prediction for a query molecule using its local neighborhood, rather than considering the whole data set. This modeling approach is especially useful for very large data sets because no a priori model need be built. We applied the technique to three biological data sets. In the first case, the root-mean-square error (RMSE) for an external prediction set was 0.94 log units versus 0.92 log units for the global model. However, LLR was able to characterize a specific group of anomalous molecules with much better accuracy (0.64 log units versus 0.70 log units for the global model). For the second data set, the LLR technique resulted in a decrease in RMSE from 0.36 log units to 0.31 log units for the external prediction set. In the third case, we obtained an RMSE of 2.01 log units versus 2.16 log units for the global model. In all cases, LLR led to a few observations being poorly predicted compared to the global model. We present an analysis of why this was observed and possible improvements to the local regression approach.
2057857
Gene-finding via tandem mass spectrometry
We propose a new gene-finding methodology that combines high performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC)-tandem mass spectrometry experiments with a fast computer algorithm to locate coding regions and introns. Proteins are first extracted from cells and digested by enzymes, and then the resulting peptides are separated and analyzed by HPLC-tandem mass spectrometry. We designed an algorithm to find DNA coding sequences, corresponding to open reading frames (ORF), in the genome such that their translated amino acid sequences are optimally correlated with these tandem mass spectra. In this algorithm, we also allow one gap, corresponding to an intron, between two DNA coding sequences, such that their concatenation becomes one coding sequence. Finally, the algorithm assembles these candidate coding sequences and introns into gene structures. Our algorithm was implemented to predict genes on 4 contigs with a total of 123 kbps using two sets of simulated digestion- HPLC-tandem mass spectrometry data of 2523 Caenorhabditis elegans Chromosome IV proteins, digested by trypsin and Asp-N respectively. Among 15 annotated genes in the forward strand, all 98 exons are hit by the predicted no-gap coding sequences, and 60 out of 83 introns are correctly predicted. We also tested gene structure prediction in a contig containing 3 genes. Combining splicing site predictions with predicted coding sequences and introns, we found all 3 gene structures.
10712046
Algorithms for identifying protein cross-links via tandem mass spectrometry
Cross-linking technology combined with tandem mass spectrometry (MS-MS) is a powerful method that provides a rapid solution to the discovery of protein-protein interactions and protein structures. We studied the problem of detecting cross-linked peptides and cross-linked amino acids from tandem mass spectral data. Our method consists of two steps: the first step finds two protein subsequences whose mass sum equals a given mass measured from the mass spectrometry; and the second step finds the best cross-linked amino acids in these two peptide sequences that are optimally correlated to a given tandem mass spectrum. We designed fast and space-efficient algorithms for these two steps, and implemented and tested them on experimental data of cross-linked Hemoglobin proteins.
2822926
Sorting with Fixed-length Reversals
Abstract A popular puzzle TOP-SPIN consists of a permutation of 20 numbered disks on an oval track, with a turnstile capable of reversing a string of 4 consecutive disks. The goal is to sort the disks into identity permutation using reversals. We consider the more general case of sorting n element permutations with a turnstile of size k. The problem of computing the reversal distances is of considerable importance in reconstructing the evolutionary history of the genome. The minimum reversal sequence sorting the one genome to another corresponds to the most likely evolutionary path between them. We give a complete solution for all n and k, of the number of equivalence classes of n-permutations under k-reversal, for both permutations and circular permutations. We also prove the upper and lower bounds on the reversal distances between two permutations.
45004012
Dual-Hamiltonian-path-based multicasting on wormhole-routed star graph interconnection networks
The star graph interconnection network has been recognized as an attractive alternative to the popular hypercube network. In this paper we first address a dual-Hamiltonian-path-based (DHPB) routing model with two virtual channels based on two Hamiltonian paths and a network partitioning strategy for wormhole-routed star graph networks. Then, we propose three efficient multicast routing schemes on basis of such a model. The proposed schemes are network-selection-based (NSB), heuristic-network-selection-based (HNSB), and two-phase heuristic-network-selection-based (TP-HNSB) dual-path routing. All of the three proposed schemes are deadlock-free. Finally, experimental results are given to show our proposed three routing schemes outperform the unicast-based, the Hamiltonian-path, and the single-Hamiltonian-path-based (SHPB) dual-path routing schemes significantly.
7346212
Skewed Data Partition and Alignment Techniques for Compiling Programs on Distributed Memory Multicomputers
Minimizing data communication over processors is the key to compile programs for distributed memory multicomputers. In this paper, we propose new data partition and alignment techniques for partitioning and aligning data arrays with a program in a way of minimizing communication over processors. We use skewed alignment instead of the dimension-ordered alignment techniques to align data arrays. By developing the skewed scheme, we can solve more complex programs with minimized data communication than that of the dimension-ordered scheme. Finally, we compare the proposed scheme with the dimension-ordered alignment one by experimental results. The experimental results show that our proposed scheme has more opportunities to align data arrays such that data communications over processors can be minimized.
8665982
Structure analysis for dynamic software architecture based on spatial logic
The requirement for modifying system structure during system execution is specified by dynamic software architectures. The system architecture style should remain one style or transform within a scope so that some constraints need to be imposed on during the system execution. Our work expands such an idea along two directions in the setting of formalism. The first direction is to model the system by a graph-based calculus stressing the structure. The other direction lies in that we tailor spatial logic to be a suitable logic as the system specification for structure. The model and specification are basis for the model checking algorithm that is to verify whether the system evolution satisfies some structure constraints. We invite a master-slave architecture style as a running example from the beginning and throughout the paper to demonstrate our approach. Such work can be seen as the basis of the structure analysis for architectures.
15759301
Animating human face under arbitrary illumination
The authors present a method to animate a human face under arbitrary lighting conditions. We first acquire the reflectance models of a human face in various expressions by employing a robot to precisely control the light position. By developing a relighting tool, named LUXMASTER, we achieve great freedom to change the illumination condition and get a variety of photorealistic novel renderings of the human face. Then, we introduce morphing techniques to add the time dimension and produce a clip of facial animation with varying illumination and expression. In order to make the morphing work easily, we design an expressive, intuitive and efficient tool, called FLUIDMAN, which at the same time enables an enormous possibility of visual effects.
21381089
Dividing Strategies for the Optimization of a Test Suite
Use of the divide-and-conquer approach to optimize a test suite does not guarantee that the optimal solutions could be re-constructed from those of the sub-problems. This paper investigates how the re-construction could be achieved with two dividing strategies. Results of a simulation study are also reported.