Question

Which of the following is untrue about Ab Initio–Based Programs for Gene Prediction?

(a) The goal of the ab initio gene prediction programs is to discriminate exons from noncoding sequences

(b) The goal is joining exons together in the correct order

(c) The main difficulty is correct identification of exons

(d) To predict exons, the algorithms rely solely on gene signals

This question was addressed to me during an interview.

Query is from Gene Prediction in Eukaryotes topic in portion Gene and Promoter Prediction of Bioinformatics

Answer 1

The correct answer is (d) To predict exons, the algorithms rely solely on gene signals

Easiest explanation: To predict exons, the algorithms rely on two features, gene signals and gene content. Signals include gene start and stop sites and putative splice sites, recognizable consensus sequences such as poly-A sites.