Question

Zhu (1998) have devised a computer program called the Bayes block aligner which in effect slides ____ sequences along each other to find the ______ ungapped regions or blocks.

(a) two, least scoring

(b) two, highest scoring

(c) multiple, highest scoring

(d) multiple, least scoring

I have been asked this question in an online quiz.

This key question is from Bayesian Statistics topic in chapter Sequence Alignment of Bioinformatics

Answer 1

Correct option is (b) two, highest scoring

The explanation: These blocks are then joined in various combinations to produce alignments.

There is no need for gap penalties because only the aligned sequence positions in blocks are scored. Instead of using a given substitution matrix and gap scoring system to find the highest scoring alignment, a Bayesian statistical approach is used.