Question

Which of the following is correct regarding the method for prokaryotic operon prediction?

(a) It relies on two kinds of information: gene orientation and intergenic distances of a pair of genes of interest and conserved linkage of the genes based on comparative genomic analysis

(b) It relies only on the gene orientation and intergenic distances of a pair of genes of interest

(c) It relies only on the conserved linkage of the genes based on comparative genomic analysis

(d) The prediction cannot be done manually using the rules

The question was asked at a job interview.

The doubt is from Prediction Algorithms topic in division Promoter and Regulatory Element Prediction of Bioinformatics

Answer 1

Right answer is (a) It relies on two kinds of information: gene orientation and intergenic distances of a pair of genes of interest and conserved linkage of the genes based on comparative genomic analysis

Best explanation: A scoring scheme is developed to assign operons with different levels of Confidence. This method is claimed to produce accurate identification of an operon structure, which in turn facilitates the promoter prediction. The prediction can be done manually using the rules. The few dedicated programs for prokaryotic promoter prediction do not apply the rule for historical reasons. The most frequently used program is BPROM.