
Since the end of the last century, the complete genomic sequences of many organisms have been determined. The impact of these genome projects ovarious fields of science has been enormous. It could be said that we now have in our hands “the blueprints of life” for these organisms. At the beginning of the 21st century, it became apparent that large numbers of noncoding RNAs are, unexpectedly, encoded in these genomes. These RNAs are not translated into proteins but act as riboregulators, and have had another huge impact on the life sciences. More recently still, a new tide of research into the classical noncoding RNAs, such as the transfer RNAs (tRNAs), has arrived. In this project, we are especially focusing on the following subjects: (a) Elucidate the acquisition mechanism of the accessory gene, vpu. (b) Comprehensive search for biofilm related genes. (c) Comparative sequence analysis on Ebola viruses.