IDENTIFICATION OF GENES IN GENOMIC AND EST SEQUENCES
Currently-available software tools are capable of predicting the locations of most protein-coding genes in anonymous genomic DNA sequences. The use of predicted exons to select primers for PCR amplification from cDNA libraries allows the complete structures of novel genes to be determined efficiently. As the number of expressed sequence tag (EST) sequences increases, the fraction of genes that can be localized in genomic sequences by searching EST databases will rapidly approach unity. The challenge for automated DNA sequence analysis is now to develop methods for accurately predicting gene structure and alternative splicing patterns. Substantially improving current accuracies in gene structure prediction will require retrospective comparative analysis of sequences from different organisms and gene families.
