Dynamics of DNA transcription

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL): Scientists model the dynamics of DNA transcription: "Genomic sequences consist of only four distinct nucleotides: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C) and thymine (T). This sequence is strung together by a sugar-phosphate backbone, and stabilized by a complementary strand of DNA that protects each base in the sequence as a pair, wrapped inside the familiar double helix. Genes are the stretches of DNA that contain the blueprints for specific protein and range in length from a few hundred to several thousands of base pairs. Think of them as discrete, linear 'files' stored within the genome. The sequential reading of these files by a protein complex is known as transcription. The modeling technique is capable of predicting transcription initiation sites in DNA sequences and may predict the binding sites of important proteins in the transcriptional process."