Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T17:40:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo7018_1.pdf: 3136549 bytes, checksum: 280ee1ed895aab2c310600bb6667d8ae (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2003 / Uma questão central no emergente campo da Biologia Molecular Computacional diz respeito ao problema de seqüenciamento de DNA. Seqüenciar uma molécula de DNA significa determinar a ordem das suas bases componentes adenina (A), citosina (C), guanina (G) e timina (T). Em vista do comprimento de tais moléculas, muitas vezes da ordem de bilhões de bases, e das limitações existentes nos processos laboratoriais, os quais são capazes de manipular, no máximo, apenas 700 bases, esse se tornou um problema de natureza combinatorial e normalmente requer técnicas matemáticas e recursos computacionais para a sua solução. Dentre os vários métodos de seqüenciamento de DNA desenvolvidos nas últimas décadas, um que se tem mostrado particularmente promissor é o método denominado Seqüenciamento por Hibridização (do inglês Sequencing by Hybridization SBH), o qual se caracteriza por utilizar um chip de DNA para identificar o espectro da seqüência investigada, isto é, o conjunto de todas as subseqüências de um determinado tamanho que a compõem; e por tentar seqüenciá-la a partir das informações nele contidas. Recentemente, Halperin et al. (2002) apresentou duas variantes para o SBH. A primeira é baseada em um algoritmo, denominado algoritmo A, projetado para lidar com os dados gerados pelo chip clássico de seqüenciamento; e a segunda, mais abrangente, inclui um novo modelo de chip que conta com bases universais distribuídas randomicamente, e, para lidar com os dados provenientes dele, inclui também um outro algoritmo, denominado algoritmo B. Halperin et al. (2002) ainda sugeriu que a combinação adequada de alguns aspectos positivos dessas abordagens talvez pudesse gerar resultados práticos melhores do que os obtidos com a solução baseada apenas no algoritmo B. Este trabalho de pesquisa aponta os problemas de se implementar tal sugestão e, então, propõe uma abordagem alternativa que tende a superá-los, a qual mostrou-se ser mais geral, tendo, inclusive, a solução baseada no algoritmo B como um caso particular. Além disso, as simulações realizadas evidenciaram que os demais casos conseguem alcançar melhor rendimento em termos do tamanho da seqüência que pode ser corretamente determinada, empregando chips de menor custo

The fast development of DNA-encoded chemical libraries (DECL) in the past 10 years has received great attention from pharmaceutical industries. It applies the selection approach for small molecular drug discovery. Because of the limited choices of DNA-compatible chemical reactions, most DNA-encoded chemical libraries have a narrow structural diversity and low synthetic yield. There is also a poor correlation between the ranking of compounds resulted from analyzing the sequencing data and the affinity measured through biochemical assays. By combining DECL with dynamical chemical library, the resulting DNA-encoded dynamic library (EDCCL) explores the thermodynamic equilibrium of reversible reactions as well as the advantages of DNA encoded compounds for manipulation/detection, thus leads to enhanced signal-to-noise ratio of the selection process and higher library quality. However, the library dynamics are caused by the weak interactions between the DNA strands, which also result in relatively low affinity of the bidentate interaction, as compared to a stable DNA duplex. To take advantage of both stably assembled dual-pharmacophore libraries and EDCCLs, we extended the concept of EDCCLs to heat-induced EDCCLs (hi-EDCCLs), in which the heat-induced recombination process of stable DNA duplexes and affinity capture are carried out separately. To replace the extremely laborious and repetitive manual process, a fully automated device will facilitate the use of DECL in drug discovery. Herein we describe a novel lab-on-a-chip platform for high throughput drug discovery with hi-EDCCL. A microfluidic system with integrated actuation was designed which is able to provide a continuous sample circulation by reducing the volume to a minimum. It consists of a cooled and a heated chamber for constant circulation. The system is capable to generate stable temperatures above 75 °C in the heated chamber to melt the double strands of the DNA and less than 15 °C in the cooled chamber, to reanneal the shuffled library. In the binding chamber (the cooled chamber) specific retaining structures are integrated. These hold back beads functionalized with the target protein, while the chamber is continuously flushed with library molecules. Afterwards the whole system can be flushed with buffer to wash out unspecific bound molecules. Finally the protein-loaded beads with attached molecules can be eluted for further investigation

It has been suggested that organismal complexity correlates with the complexity of gene regulation. Transcriptional control of gene expression is mediated by binding of regulatory proteins to cis-acting sequences on the genome. Hence, it is crucial to identify the chromosomal targets of transcription factors (TFs) to delineate transcriptional regulatory networks underlying gene expression programs. The development of ChIP-chip technology has enabled high throughput mapping of TF binding sites across the genome. However, there are many limitations to the technology including the availability of whole genome arrays for complex organisms such human or mouse. To circumvent these limitations, we developed the Sequence Tag Analysis of Genomic Enrichment (STAGE) methodology that is based on extracting short DNA sequences or “tags” from ChIP-enriched DNA. With improvements in sequencing technologies, we applied the recently developed ChIP-Seq technique i.e. ChIP followed by ultra high throughput sequencing, to identify binding sites for the TF E2F4 across the human genome. We identified previously uncharacterized E2F4 binding sites in intergenic regions and found that several microRNAs are potential E2F4 targets. Binding of TFs to their respective chromosomal targets requires access of the TF to its regulatory element, which is strongly influenced by nucleosomal remodeling. In order to understand nucleosome remodeling in response to transcriptional perturbation, we used ultra high throughput sequencing to map nucleosome positions in yeast that were subjected to heat shock or were grown normally. We generated nucleosome remodeling profiles across yeast promoters and found that specific remodeling patterns correlate with specific TFs active during the transcriptional reprogramming. Another important aspect of gene regulation operates at the post-transcriptional level. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are ~22 nucleotide non-coding RNAs that suppress translation or mark mRNAs for degradation. MiRNAs regulate TFs and in turn can be regulated by TFs. We characterized a TF-miRNA network involving the oncofactor Myc and the miRNA miR-22 that suppresses the interferon pathway as primary fibroblasts enter a stage of rapid proliferation. We found that miR-22 suppresses the interferon pathway by inhibiting nuclear translocation of the TF NF-kappaB. Our results show how the oncogenic TF Myc cross-talks with other TF regulatory pathways via a miRNA intermediary. / text