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Several algorithms have been suggested for minisatellite alignment. Their time complexity is high -- close to O(n^3) -- due to the necessary reconstruction of duplication histories. We investigate the uniqueness of optimal alignments computed under the common single-copy duplication model. To this extent, it is necessary to avoid ambiguity in the algorithm employed. We re-code the ARLEM algorithm in the form of a grammar, and apply a disambiguation technique which uses a mapping to a canonical representation of minisatellite alignments. Having arrived at a non-ambiguous algorithm this way, we demonstrate that the underlying model -- independent of the algorithm -- gives rise to an exorbitant number of different, co-optimal alignments when applied to real-world data. We conclude that alignment-free methods should be considered for minisatellite comparison.
@InProceedings{lowes_et_al:OASIcs.GCB.2013.110,
author = {L\"{o}wes, Benedikt and Giegerich, Robert},
title = {{Avoiding Ambiguity and Assessing Uniqueness in Minisatellite Alignment}},
booktitle = {German Conference on Bioinformatics 2013},
pages = {110--124},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-939897-59-0},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2013},
volume = {34},
editor = {Bei{\ss}barth, Tim and Kollmar, Martin and Leha, Andreas and Morgenstern, Burkhard and Schultz, Anne-Kathrin and Waack, Stephan and Wingender, Edgar},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.GCB.2013.110},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-42285},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.GCB.2013.110},
annote = {Keywords: minisatellite alignment, dynamic programming, ambiguity}
}