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The Burrows-Wheeler similarity distribution between biological sequences based on Burrows-Wheeler transform
Lianping Yang1, Xiangde Zhang, Tianming Wang
1School of Mathematical Sciences, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China. yangmath@yahoo.cn
Journal of Theoretical Biology
|November 12, 2009
Summary
This study introduces a novel method for comparing biological sequences using the Burrows-Wheeler transform. The approach efficiently constructs phylogenetic trees, demonstrating its power in sequence analysis.
Area of Science:
- Bioinformatics
- Computational Biology
- Sequence Analysis
Background:
- Comparing biological sequences is fundamental to understanding evolutionary relationships and molecular functions.
- Existing methods may have limitations in efficiency or accuracy for large datasets.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel method for quantifying the similarity between biological sequences.
- To utilize this similarity measure for constructing phylogenetic trees.
Main Methods:
- The Burrows-Wheeler transform was adapted to define a similarity distribution between two sequences.
- Expectation and entropy of this distribution were calculated.
- These statistical measures were used to build phylogenetic trees from independent datasets.
Main Results:
- A new definition of Burrows-Wheeler similarity distribution was successfully proposed.
- The expectation and entropy derived from this distribution proved effective for phylogenetic tree construction.
- The method demonstrated efficiency and power in analyzing biological sequence data.
Conclusions:
- The proposed Burrows-Wheeler similarity distribution offers an effective approach for sequence comparison.
- This method provides a robust foundation for phylogenetic analysis.
- The technique is efficient and powerful for biological sequence data.
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