Abstract
Modern methods of encoding information into digital form include error check digits that are functions of the other information digits. When digital information is transmitted, the values of the error check digits can be computed from the information digits to determine whether the information has been received accurately. These error correcting codes make it possible to detect and correct common errors in transmission. The sequence of bases in DNA is also a digital code consisting of four symbols: A, C, G, and T. Does DNA also contain an error correcting code? Such a code would allow repair enzymes to protect the fidelity of nonreplicating DNA and increase the accuracy of replication. If a linear block error correcting code is present in DNA then some bases would be a linear function of the other bases in each set of bases. We developed an efficient procedure to determine whether such an error correcting code is present in the base sequence. We illustrate the use of this procedure by using it to analyze the lac operon and the gene for cytochrome c. These genes do not appear to contain such a simple error correcting code.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Forsdyke D. R. Are introns in-series error-detecting sequences? J Theor Biol. 1981 Dec 21;93(4):861–866. doi: 10.1016/0022-5193(81)90344-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Mantegna R. N., Buldyrev S. V., Goldberger A. L., Havlin S., Peng C. K., Simons M., Stanley H. E. Linguistic features of noncoding DNA sequences. Phys Rev Lett. 1994 Dec 5;73(23):3169–3172. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.73.3169. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Rzeszowska-Wolny J. Is genetic code error-correcting? J Theor Biol. 1983 Oct 21;104(4):701–702. doi: 10.1016/0022-5193(83)90257-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]