Simulation of Chordate Intron Evolution Using Randomly Generated and Mutated Base Sequences.

Introns are well known for their high variation not only in length but also in base sequence. The evolution of intron sequences has aroused broad interest in the past decades. However, very little is known about the evolutionary pattern of introns due to the lack of efficient analytical method.

Phylogenetic analysis of achaete-scute complex genes in metazoans.

Achaete-scute complex (ASC) genes play essential roles in regulating neurogenesis of metazoans. Various metazoan species have greatly different numbers of genes in ASCa, ASCb and ASCc families. To explore evolutionary mechanisms of metazoan ASC genes, Blast (basic local alignment search tool) searches and phylogenetic analyses were conducted to identify ASC genes in metazoan species and to infer phylogenetic relationship between various ASC genes.