Algorithms in Computational Biology (236522) Fall 2004-5 

Lecture #1

Lecturer: Shlomo Moran, Taub 639, tel 4363 Office hours Thursday 1630-1730TA: Sivan Yogev, Taub 224, tel 5617Office hours Monday 1030-1130

Lecture: Tuesday 12:30-14:30, Taub 6Tutorial: Thursday 10:30-11:30, Taub 61st tutorial: Sunday 24.10, 16:30, Taub 6

This class has been initially edited from Nir Friedman’s lecture at the Hebrew University. Changes made by Dan Geiger, then by Shlomo Moran.

Course Information

Requirements & Grades:

• 15-25% homework, in five assignments. [Submit in two weeks time]. Homework is obligatory.

• 75-85% test. Must pass beyond 55 for the homework’s grade to count

• Exam date: 3.2.05.

Bibliography• Biological Sequence Analysis, R.Durbin et al.

, Cambridge University Press, 1998 • Introduction to Molecular Biology, J.

Setubal, J. Meidanis, PWS publishing Company, 1997 

• Phylogenetics, C. Semple, M. Steel, Oxford press, 2003

• url: webcourse.cs.technion.ac.il/~cs236522

Course PrerequisitesComputer Science and Probability Background• Data structure 1 (cs234218)• Algorithms 1 (cs234247)• Probability (any course)

Some Biology Background Formally: None, to allow CS students to take this course. Recommended: Molecular Biology 1 (especially for those in the

Bioinformatics track), or a similar Biology course, and/or a serious desire to complement your knowledge in Biology by reading the appropriate material (see the course web site).

Biological Background

Due time: Tutorial class of 2.11.04 (2 weeks from today).

First home work assignment: Read the first chapter (pages 1-30) of Setubal et al., 1997. (copies are available in the Taub building library, and in the central library). Answer the questions of the first assignment in the course site.

Computational BiologyComputational biology is the application of computational tools and techniques to (primarily) molecular biology.  It enables new ways of study in life sciences, allowing analytic and predictive methodologies that support and enhance laboratory work. It is a multidisciplinary area of study that combines Biology, Computer Science, and Statistics.

Computational biology is also called Bioinformatics, although many practitioners define Bioinformatics somewhat narrower by restricting the field to molecular Biology only.

Examples of Areas of Interest• Building evolutionary trees from molecular (and other) data• Efficiently constructing genomes of various organisms• Understanding the structure of genomes (SNP, SSR, Genes)• Understanding function of genes in the cell cycle and disease• Deciphering structure and function of proteins

_____________________SNP: Single Nucleotide PolymorphismSSR: Simple Sequence Repeat

Exponential growth of biological information: growth of sequences, structures, and literature.

Course Goals

• Learning about computational tools for (primarily) molecular biology.

• Cover computational tasks that are posed by modern molecular biology

• Discuss the biological motivation and setup for these tasks

• Understand the kinds of solutions that exist and what principles justify them

Topics I

Dealing with DNA/Protein sequences:

• Informal biological background.

• Finding similar sequences

• Models of sequences: Hidden Markov Models

• Gene finding

Topics II

Models of genetic changes:• Long term: evolutionary changes among

species• Reconstructing evolutionary trees from

sequences• Short term: genetic variations in a

population• Finding genes by linkage and association

Human GenomeMost human cells contain

46 chromosomes:

• 2 sex chromosomes (X,Y):

XY – in males.

XX – in females.

• 22 pairs of chromosomes named autosomes.

DNA OrganizationS

ourc

e: A

lber

ts e

t al

The Double HelixS

ourc

e: A

lber

ts e

t al

DNA ComponentsFour nucleotide types:• Adenine• Guanine• Cytosine• Thymine

Hydrogen bonds(electrostatic connection):

• A-T• C-G

Genome Sizes• E.Coli (bacteria) 4.6 x 106 bases• Yeast (simple fungi) 15 x 106 bases• Smallest human chromosome 50 x 106 bases• Entire human genome 3 x 109 bases

Genetic Information

• Genome – the collection of genetic information.

• Chromosomes – storage units of genes.

• Gene – basic unit of genetic information. They determine the inherited characters.

GenesThe DNA strings include:• Coding regions (“genes”)

– E. coli has ~4,000 genes – Yeast has ~6,000 genes– C. Elegans has ~13,000 genes– Humans have ~32,000 genes

• Control regions – These typically are adjacent to the genes– They determine when a gene should be “expressed”

• “Junk” DNA (unknown function - ~90% of the DNA in human’s chromosomes)

The Cell

All cells of an organism contain the same DNA content (and the same genes) yet there is a variety of cell types.

Example: Tissues in Stomach

How is this variety encoded and expressed ?

Central Dogma

Transcription

mRNA

Translation

ProteinGene

cells express different subset of the genesIn different tissues and under different conditions

שעתוק תרגום

Transcription• Coding sequences can be transcribed to

RNA

• RNA – Similar to DNA, slightly different nucleotides:

different backbone– Uracil (U) instead of Thymine (T)

Sou

rce:

Mat

hew

s &

van

Hol

de

Transcription: RNA Editing

Exons hold information, they are more stable during evolution.This process takes place in the nucleus. The mRNA molecules diffuse through the nucleus membrane to the outer cell plasma.

1. Transcribe to RNA2. Eliminate introns3. Splice (connect) exons* Alternative splicing exists

RNA roles• Messenger RNA (mRNA)

– Encodes protein sequences. Each three nucleotide acids translate to an amino acid (the protein building block).

• Transfer RNA (tRNA)– Decodes the mRNA molecules to amino-acids. It connects

to the mRNA with one side and holds the appropriate amino acid on its other side.

• Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) – Part of the ribosome, a machine for translating mRNA to

proteins. It catalyzes (like enzymes) the reaction that attaches the hanging amino acid from the tRNA to the amino acid chain being created.

• ...

Translation

• Translation is mediated by the ribosome• Ribosome is a complex of protein & rRNA

molecules• The ribosome attaches to the mRNA at a

translation initiation site• Then ribosome moves along the mRNA sequence

and in the process constructs a sequence of amino acids (polypeptide) which is released and folds into a protein.

Genetic Code

There are 20 amino acids from which proteins are build.

Protein Structure

• Proteins are poly-peptides of 70-3000 amino-acids

• This structure is (mostly) determined by the sequence of amino-acids that make up the protein

Protein Structure

Evolution

• Related organisms have similar DNA– Similarity in sequences of proteins– Similarity in organization of genes along the

chromosomes

• Evolution plays a major role in biology– Many mechanisms are shared across a wide

range of organisms– During the course of evolution existing

components are adapted for new functions

Evolution

Evolution of new organisms is driven by

• Diversity– Different individuals carry different variants of

the same basic blue print

• Mutations– The DNA sequence can be changed due to

single base changes, deletion/insertion of DNA segments, etc.

• Selection bias

The Tree of Life

Sou

rce:

Alb

erts

et

al

Example of a graph theoretic problem related

to evolution trees: the perfect phylogeny

problem

Characters in Species

• A (discrete) character is a property which distinguishes between species (e.g. dental structure, a certain gene)

• A characters state is a value of the character (human dental structure).

• Problem: Given set of species, specified by their characters, reconstruct their evolutionary tree.

Species ≡ VerticesCharacters ≡ Colorings

States ≡ Colors

Evolutionary tree ≡ A tree with many colorings, containing the given vertices

= No teeth

= teeth

AB

C

D

Another tree

Which tree is more reasonable?

= No teeth

= teeth

A B

C D

Evolutionary trees should avoid

reversal transitions

• A species regains a state it’s direct ancestor has lost.

• Famous (and rare) examples:– Teeth in birds.– Legs in snakes.

Evolutionary trees should avoid convergence transitions

• Two species possess the same state while their least common ancestor possesses a different state.

• Famous example: The marsupials.

היונקים מימין הם יונקי כיס. קודם היתה התפצלות של כל היומקי כיס, ולאחר מכן התכנסות לכל מיני תכונות דומות ליונקים "רגילים".

Common Assumption:Characters with Reversal or Convergent transitions are highly unlikely in the Evolutionary Tree

A character that exhibits neither reversals nor convergence is denoted homoplasy free.

A character is Homoplasy Free

↕ The corresponding coloring is convex

(each color induces a connected subtree)

A partial coloring is convex if it can be completed to a (total) convex coloring

The Perfect Phylogeny Problem

• Input: a set of species, and many characters, each assign states (colors) to the species.

• Question: is there a tree T containing the species as vertices, in which all the characters (colorings) are convex?

Input: Some colorings (C1,…,Ck) of a set of vertices (in the example: 3 colorings: left, center, right, each by (the same) two colors).

Problem: Is there a tree T which includes these vertices, s.t. (T,Ci) is convex for i=1,…,k?

RBRRRRBBRRRB

The Perfect Phylogeny Problem(combinatorial setting)

NP-Hard In general, in P for some special cases