SCALE-INVARIANT SPATIAL PATTERNS IN GENOME ORGANIZATION

Eukaryotic genomes are characterized by coding regions interspersed wi thin non-coding sequences, creating irregular dispersal patterns. Frac tal analysis was applied to the study of this dispersed organization o f eukaryotic genomes. The results show that eukaryotic genomes possess two length regimes - a short ordered length scale, and a fractal regi me with fractal dimensions ranging from 0.21 +/- 0.02 to 0.84 +/- 0.02 . Fractal scaling provides clues to the origin and evolution of sequen ce patterns within genomes, and provides us with tools necessary to ch aracterize such patterns in detail.