Computer Analysis of Genetic Macromolecules: Structure, Function and Evolution

Molecular biology and genetics are fast-growing fields with significant results and findings being reported virtually every day. Raw data from the wet lab accumulate at an astonishing rate, making it necessary to analyze the biological data with the use of computers. This book reveals how the current challenges of molecular biology and genetics are met with computer and mathematical treatments. A combined effort of the Computational Genetics and Biophysics Group (Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, USA), the Theoretical Molecular Genetics (Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia) and the Bioinformatics Group (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy), many of these findings are firsthand discoveries made by these groups. The book emphasizes the fundamental principles of the structural-functional organization of the 3 major classes of genetic macromolecules: DNA, RNA and proteins. It also introduces universally applicable theoretical principles into the enormous realm of raw data and develops an integrative, theoretical computer approach to the analysis of these macromolecules to gain insights into the complexities of their function and evolution.