Palindromic code

Rho-independent termination of transcription. A. An example of a palindrome in double-stranded DNA. B. A transcribed DNA palindrome codes for RNA that can form a hairpin turn. 

Randic, M. and Mezey, P.G. (1996). Palindromic Perimeter Codes and Chirality Properties of Polyhexes. J.Chem.Inf ComputScL, 36,1183-1186. 

Several bacterial transposons, referred to as insertion elements (ISelements), consist only of a gene that codes for a transposition enzyme (i.e., transposase), flanked by short DNA segments called inverted repeats (Figure 18.16). (Inverted repeats are short palindromes.) More complicated bacterial transposable elements, called composite transposons, contain additional genes, several of which may code for antibiotic resistance. Because transposons can jump between bacterial chromosomes, plasmids, and viral genomes, transpositions are now believed to play an important role in the spread of antibiotic resistance among bacteria. 

Definition An object is chiral if and only if its binary code is not a palindrome, i.e., C is not equal to its mirror image C. 

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