sncRNA

Small RNAs (sRNAs) are non-coding transcripts exerting their functions in the cells directly. Identification of sRNAs is a difficult task due to the lack of clear sequence and structural biases. Most sRNAs are identified within genus specific intergenic regions in related genomes. However, several of these regions remain un-annotated due to lack of sequence homology and/or potent statistical identification tools.

Autism is a highly heritable complex neurodevelopmental disorder, therefore identifying its genetic basis has been challenging. To date, numerous susceptibility genes and chromosomal abnormalities have been reported in association with autism, but most discoveries either fail to be replicated or account for a small effect. Thus, in most cases the underlying causative genetic mechanisms are not fully understood.

As for many model organisms, the amount of Listeria omics data produced has recently increased exponentially. There are now >80 published complete Listeria genomes, around 350 different transcriptomic data sets, and 25 proteomic data sets available. The analysis of these data sets through a systems biology approach and the generation of tools for biologists to browse these various data are a challenge for bioinformaticians.

Analysis of intergenic sequences for purposes such as the investigation of transcriptional signals or the identification of small RNA genes is frequently complicated by traditional biological database structures. Genome data is commonly treated as chromosome-length sequence records, detailed by gene calls demarcating subsequences of the chromosomes. Given this model, the determination of non-called subsequences between any gene and its nearest neighbors requires an exhaustive search of all gene calls associated with the chromosome.