建置人類核醣核酸編輯點資料庫

Abstract

核糖核酸編輯 (RNA Editing) 是核糖核酸序列的修改，其中主要有核甘酸的刪除、插入、以及取代三種。核糖核酸編輯機制導致訊息核糖核酸前驅物剪接、架構位移、核醣核酸結構改變和訊息核醣核酸轉譯。A-to-I和C-to-U核糖核酸編輯機制是目前已經被了解和研究的，但是，目前為止沒有任何的資料庫是關於哺乳類核糖核酸編輯。因此，本研究建立ㄧ個儲存核糖核酸編輯相關資訊的資料庫系統。這個資料庫系統所儲存的資料包含不同的核糖核酸編輯類型，以及其詳細地註解，亦即未轉譯區域、重複區域、單一核酸多樣性和經由實驗驗證的核糖核酸編輯點。此外，本研究也進行跨物種的比較分析，用以來探討演化上的意義，並且針對每一種核糖核酸編輯類型，找尋潛在相關的核糖核酸結構。 主要的研究方法是利用序列分析 (Sequence analysis) 來預測核糖核酸編輯點。本研究的方法是藉由對準基因、訊息核醣核酸和表現序列片段的序列的結果來找到核糖核酸編輯點。本研究也收集實驗驗證過的核糖核酸編輯點來確認我們預測的核糖核酸編輯點。本研究所建置的EdRNA資料庫目前提供於 http://EdRNA.mbc.nctu.edu.tw/。

RNA editing is the modification of RNA sequence through nucleotide deletion, insertion, or base modification mechanisms. RNA editing mechanisms affect the pre-mRNA splicing, frameshfits, RNA structure changes and mRNA translation. Recently, two types of RNA editing such as A-to-I and C-to-U were investigated. A database comprising RNA editing sites in mammalian genomes is crucial for deciphering the RNA editing mechanism. In this thesis, we established a database which comprises both the experimentally validated RNA editing sites and computationally predicted RNA editing sites. Experimentally validated sites ware obtained by literature survey. A computational method based on sequence comparing analysis is implemented for identifying putative RNA editing sites. Additionally, cross-species comparison is performed to confer the evolution meanings of the RNA editing site. Motif discovery method is applied to discover RNA structural motifs, which are potentially related to each type of editing site. The database is now available in http://EdRNA.mbc.nctu.edu.tw/.