Author(s): YAMAGISHI, M. E. B.; SHIMABUKURO, A. I.

Summary: Abstract. This work presents a mathematical model that establishes an interesting connection between nucleotide frequencies in human single-stranded DNA and the famous Fibonacci's numbers. The model relies on two assumptions. First, Chargaff's second parity rule should be valid, and second, the nucleotide frequencies should approach limit values when the number of bases is sufficiently large. Under these two hypotheses, it is possible to predict the human nucleotide frequencies with accuracy. This result may be used as evidence to the Fibonacci string model that was proposed to the sequence growth of DNA repetitive sequences. It is noteworthy that the predicted values are solutions of an optimization problem, which is commonplace in many of nature's phenomena.

Publication year: 2008

Types of publication: Journal article

Unit: Embrapa Digital Agriculture

Keywords: Chargaff's parity rules, Fibonacci numbers, Genoma humano, Mathematical models, Modelo matemático, Nucleotide frequencies, Nucleotides, Números de Fibonacci, Optimization problem, Repetitive sequences, System optimization