Assessing the Quality of Multiple Sequence Alignments
Author Information
Author(s): Virpi Ahola, Tero Aittokallio, Mauno Vihinen, Esa Uusipaikka
Primary Institution: MTT Agrifood Research Finland
Hypothesis
Can a statistical score effectively evaluate the quality of multiple sequence alignments?
Conclusion
The proposed statistical score is useful in assessing the quality of multiple sequence alignments.
Supporting Evidence
- The maxZ score can distinguish sequence patterns with different degrees of conservation.
- The Mafft strategy L-INS-i outperformed other methods in alignment quality.
- The novel alignment quality score provides similar results to the sum of pairs method.
Takeaway
This study created a new way to check how good multiple sequence alignments are, which helps scientists understand proteins better.
Methodology
The study introduced a statistical score based on counting significantly conserved positions in alignments using importance sampling and statistical profile analysis.
Potential Biases
Potential bias due to the reliance on specific scoring matrices.
Limitations
The current maxZ score does not take sequence weighting into consideration.
Statistical Information
P-Value
p<0.05
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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