Computational analysis of genetic sequences.

Much computational processing of sequence data can be accomplished by applying the kinds of computational tools and processes widely used in text processing, perhaps specialized to sequences, but not necessarily so. A number of programs have been developed specifically to assist in assembling sequences from individually sequenced restriction fragments. As in the case of restriction sites, many sequence patterns of biological interest are essentially lexically defined, and can be dealt with by text-processing methods. However, the specifically biological problems of identifying evolutionary and functional relatedness between sequences have led to development of computational tools that go beyond anything from the text-processing area. I first sketch the use of text-processing tools in sequence analysis and then go on to methods for identifying homology and other relationships within and between sequences. I have tried to include the most active areas of actual application in molecular genetics, although the important area of secondary structure prediction is omitted.