Discovering mutational patterns in mammals using comparative genomics [Elektronische Ressource] / Paz Polak

Discovering Mutational Patterns inMammals Using ComparativeGenomicsPaz PolakJune 2010Dissertation zur Erlangung des Gradeseines Doktors der Naturwissenschaften (Dr. rer. nat.)eingereicht im Fachbereich Mathematik und Informatikder Freien Universitat Berlin1. Referent: Prof. Dr. Martin Vingron2. Prof. Dr. Nikolaus RajewskyTag der Promotion: 17. September 2010PrefaceAcknowledgmentsI would like to thank all people who have helped and inspired me during my doctoralstudy. My deepest gratitude goes to my advisor Peter Arndt whose inspiration, guid-ance and support enabled me to develop a greater understanding of the subject. Theatmosphere of freedom to think and in particular, his accessibility and willingness tohelp with any problem, large or small, will never be forgotten.Special thanks is reserved for Nina Papavasiliou for the discussions on somatic hypermutation processes and to Robert Querfurth for assistance in the work on evolution ofsubstitution patterns.I heartily give gratitude to Rosa Karlic, Sean O’Kee e , Brian Cusack, Julia Lasserre,Yves Clement, Kirsten Kelleher and Sarah Behrens for critically reading this thesisand for their useful comments. Large parts of my scienti c education I gained dur-ing the weekly Gene Regulatory meetings and the Vingron department seminars andtherefore I wish to thank all the past and present colleagues in the Vingron departmentand in particular the EvoGen group.