## The Annals of Statistics

### Approximate $p$-values for local sequence alignments

#### Abstract

Assume that two sequences from a finite alphabet are optimally aligned according to a scoring system that rewards similarities according to a general scoring scheme and penalizes gaps (insertions and deletions). Under the assumption that the letters in each sequence are independent and identically distributed and the two sequences are also independent, approximate $p$-values are obtained for the optimal local alignment when either (i) there are at most a fixed number of gaps, or (ii) the gap initiation cost is sufficiently large. In the latter case the approximation can be written in the same form as the well-known case of ungapped alignments.

#### Article information

Source
Ann. Statist. Volume 28, Number 3 (2000), 657-680.

Dates
First available in Project Euclid: 12 March 2002

http://projecteuclid.org/euclid.aos/1015951993

Digital Object Identifier
doi:10.1214/aos/1015951993

Mathematical Reviews number (MathSciNet)
MR1792782

Zentralblatt MATH identifier
1105.62377

Subjects
Primary: 62M40: Random fields; image analysis
Secondary: 92D10: Genetics {For genetic algebras, see 17D92}

#### Citation

Siegmund, David; Yakir, Benjamin. Approximate $p$-values for local sequence alignments. Ann. Statist. 28 (2000), no. 3, 657--680. doi:10.1214/aos/1015951993. http://projecteuclid.org/euclid.aos/1015951993.

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