[Molecular and genetic aspects of interactions of the circadian clock and the energy-producing substrate metabolism in mammals].

The circadian clock system coordinates al the processes occurring in the body and controls the rhythmic pattern in metabolic system functioning. The reciprocal relationship between molecular and genetic systems of the circadian clock and the systems responsible for carbohydrate and lipid turnover provide fine tuning both of metabolic processes and the circadian clock regulation system, permitting the body to adapt to a variable environment. NAD-dependent enzymes, protein-kinases, and transcription regulators could serve as presumable molecular components, which are responsible for such a type of relationship.

[Statistical analysis of nucleosome formation sites].

The prediction of the DNA capacity to form nucleosome structure based on sequence statistics is of importance in the analysis of gene expression regulation in eukaryotes. A context analysis of nucleotide sequences of experimentally defined sites of nucleosome formation made it possible to determine the sequence preference for nucleosome formation on the basis of statistical information. An improved version of the Markov model was developed to predict the preference of DNA sequences to be within a nucleosome structure.

[Deletional polymorphism of the 11th intron of the human c-fms gene: allele frequency in certain Russian populations and possible functional significance].

Analysis of deletion polymorphism of human c-fms gene intron 11 (approximately 425-bp deletion) is of particular interest because of the increased proportion of the deletion heterozygotes among the infants born from the parents, one of which lacks the deletion allele, and the other is heterozygous for the deletion. In this study, allele and haplotype frequencies of the polymorphism examined were assessed in a number of Caucasoid and Mongoloid populations of Russia. In all populations tested, relatively high prevalence of the deletion-bearing allele, ranging from 9.

[Comparative analysis of methods for recognizing potential transcription factor binding sites].

A complex approach to recognize transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) has been developed based on four methods: (i) weight matrix, (ii) information content, (iii) multidimensional alignment, and (iv) pairwise alignment with the most similar representative of known sites. It has been shown that no method optimal for all kinds of sites occurs among the considered methods, so in each case, the appropriate way of recognition should be chosen. The approach proposed allows one to minimize the errors of TFBS recognition.

[Locus-controlling regions: description in the LCR-TRRD data base].

The structural and functional organization of locus control regions (LCR) was analyzed using data of the LCR-TRR Database. The role of several transcription factors in the LCR function was considered. A study was made of the possible nucleosomal packing of enhancer regions in LCR.