Question

Which of the following is untrue regarding Prediction with Neural Networks?

(a) When multiple sequence alignments and neural networks are combined, the result is further improved accuracy

(b) A neural network is trained by a single sequence

(c) A neural network is trained by a sequence profile derived from the multiple sequence alignment

(d) When the sufficiently trained network processes an unknown sequence, it applies the rules learned in training to recognize particular structural patterns

This question was addressed to me in homework.

This intriguing question originated from Protein Secondary Structure Prediction  for Globular Proteins topic in section Secondary Structure Prediction of Bioinformatics

Answer 1

The correct answer is (b) A neural network is trained by a single sequence

Best explanation: A neural network is trained not by a single sequence but by a sequence profile derived from the multiple sequence alignment. This combined approach has been shown to improve the accuracy to above 75%, which is a breakthrough in secondary structure prediction. The improvement mainly comes from enhanced secondary structure signals through consensus drawing. The following lists several frequently used third generation prediction algorithms available as web servers.