Question

Which of the following is untrue about dot plot method and its applications?

(a) This method gives a direct visual statement of the relationship between two sequences

(b) One of its advantages is the identification of sequence repeat regions based on the presence of parallel diagonals of the same size vertically or horizontally in the matrix

(c) It is not useful in identifying chromosomal repeats

(d) The method can be used in identifying nucleic acid secondary structures through detecting self-complementarity of a sequence

I have been asked this question in exam.

This interesting question is from Methods in division Pairwise Sequence Alignment of Bioinformatics

Answer 1

The correct option is (c) It is not useful in identifying chromosomal repeats

The best explanation: It is useful in identifying chromosomal repeats and in comparing gene order conservation between two closely related genomes. The dot matrix method gives a direct visual statement of the relationship between two sequences and helps easy identification of the regions of greatest similarities. The method thus has some applications in genomics.