Pathogen variability. A genomic signal approach

The conversion of genomic symbolic sequences into digital signals has been applied for the analysis pathogen variability. Results are given on the variability of Human Immunodeficiency Virus, type 1, subtype F, isolated in Romania, and of the type A avian influenza virus H5N1, for which sequences have been downloaded from GenBank [I]. Nucleotide sequence analysis is corroborated with techniques based on the genomic signal approach to detect pathogen resistance to antiretroviral treatment. In the case of protease (PR) inhibitors, it is found that the treatment induces single nucleotide polimorphisms (SNPs) in specific sites. For moderate resistance, the changes affect the PR enzyme only at the level of the protein, whereas for multiple drug resistance, the RNA gene secondary structure also changes.