QuadLocator - An Algorithm to Locate Possible Quadruplex Forming Sequences

Abstract

An unusual four stranded structure, known as G-quadruplex structure, can be formed in a DNA/RNA segment having frequent guanines. These structures can be involved in different biological processes and to understand this, it is necessary to identify the locations of those segments that can form these unusual structures. Different tools are available to locate such sequences in a given nucleic acid sequence. However, a new algorithm is proposed in this paper with an additional feature that can perform transcript-exon mapping for these structures. It is important because there is a possibility that a possible quadruplex forming sequence may found because of joining of two exons in a mature transcript but not in case of DNA or RNA.