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Updated: Jul 30, 2026

Using Phylogenetic Analysis to Investigate Eukaryotic Gene Origin
Published on: August 14, 2018
Linguistic approaches to biological sequences
1SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, King of Prussia, PA 19406, USA.
Abstract:
Biologists have long made use of linguistic metaphors in describing and naming cellular processes involving nucleic acid and protein sequences. Indeed, it is very natural to view the genetic 'text' and its sequential transliterations in these terms. However, a metaphor is not a tool, and it is necessary to ask whether the techniques used in analyzing other kinds of languages, such as human and computer languages, can in fact be of any use in tackling problems in molecular biology. This paper reviews the work of the author and others in applying the methods of computational linguistics to biological sequences.
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