Global and local alignment

There are two primary approaches to aligning two sequences. Global alignment involves aligning the entire length of both sequences, whereas local alignment focuses only on aligning regions that exhibit similarity. Global alignment is suitable for comparing sequences expected to be similar overall but may differ in some areas. In contrast, local alignment is effective for identifying similar segments within longer sequences that may otherwise differ substantially. Local alignments are commonly utilized to pinpoint functional or structural motifs within a sequence.

Meet the family: global and local alignment

Practical: Implementing global alignment

Read alignment in the field

Problems to solve (advanced)

Try to solve these problems after completing this section.

1. Global Alignment with Scoring Matrix

2. Maximizing the Gap Symbols of an Optimal Alignment

3. Global Alignment with Constant Gap Penalty

4. Local Alignment with Scoring Matrix

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