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Several authors have being suggesting that the occurrence of amino acids repeats in some genes are implied in human diseases. We aim to investigate if these repetitions, which one can observe in humans, also exist in orthologous genes of several organisms, and how they have evolved along time. However, for this kind of study, it is necessary to use different databases and computation methods that are not integrated in any specific tool. In this paper, we present a bioinformatics application, supported by Web Services, that allows to conduct comparative analysis studies for various organisms, along the evolutionary chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twist ye, twine ye! even so Mingle shades of joy and woe, Hope and fear, and peace and strife, In the thread of human life. All molecules in a living organism serve a purpose, and we cannot say that a particular type is more important than any other. Nevertheless, it would be difficult to identify substances that play more varied and central roles than do the biopolymers. They contribute to the mechanical structure, and in the animal kingdom they provide the means of motion. They facilitate transport of smaller chemical units and mediate the chemical interaction between molecules, the biopolymers that serve this catalytic function being the proteins known as enzymes. There are biopolymers that form the immunological system and others that are involved in the mechanism of tissue differentiation. With so many functions to be fulfilled, we should expect to find many different types of these ubiquitous molecules, and this is certainly the case. It is believed, for example, that there are several hundred distinct enzymes within each cell of a higher organism such as a mammal. Even the task of perpetuating and translating the genetic message is entrusted to biopolymers. The body of a typical mammal is mostly water – about 65% by weight in fact – but of the solid components no group is better represented than the proteins; they make up about 15% of the total weight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An abstract of the article "Genomic Imprinting: Cis-Acting Sequences and Regional Control," by Bonnie Reinhart, and J. Richard Chaillet is presented.