Motif discovery in biological sequences

Abstract

This master thesis is a Ph.D. research plan for motif discovery in biological sequences, and consists of three main parts. Chapter 2 is a survey of methods for motif discovery in DNA regulatory regions, with a special emphasis on computational models. The survey presents an integrated model of the problem that allows systematic and coherent treatment of the surveyed methods. Chapter 3 presents a new algorithm for composite motif discovery in biological sequences. This algorithm has been used with success for motif discovery in protein sequences, and will in future work be extended on to explore properties of the DNA regulatory mechanism. Finally, chapter 4 describes several current research projects, as well as some more general future directions of research. The research focuses on the development of new algorithms for the discovery of composite motifs in DNA. These algorithms will partly be used for systematic exploration of the DNA regulatory mechanism. An increased understanding of this mechanism may lead to more accurate computational models, and hence more sensitive motif discovery methods.