Biological discoveries with biomolecular sequence analysis. Case studies: posttranslational modifications of proteins and complexes for chromatin organization

Biomolecular sequence analysis in one of the very few areas of purely theoretical research that creatively and decisively enrich biological knowledge in a direct way. Two different but complementing approaches, linguistic analysis of genetic texts and comparative studies of families of evolutionary related sequences, are useful for prediction of molecular and cellular functions of genes. (1) For example, the SET domain methyltransferase, Ecolp acetyltransferase and the kleisin family, are among the recent discoveries that stimulate chromatin regulation and nuclear division research. (2) A statistical argument can be used to derive the sensitivity horizon of expression profiling with tag sequencing. (3) Score functions measuring inter-positional correlations in sequences can discriminate recognition motifs in non-globular protein segments responsible for posttranslational modifications and targeting signals.