Sequence Analysis in Molecular Biology: Treasure Trove or Trivial Pursuit

This book deals with sequence analysis on the computer. One of its aims is to serve as a brief survey of what one can do with protein and DNA sequences either directly on a microcomputer or by using one of the main sequence/programs data banks such as BioNet or the Wisconsin package. Equally important, the book traces the origins of some of the ideas that have come to be embodied in these programs from both biological and methodological points of view: What do the standard sequence analysis algorithms really analyze, and to what degree can we trust their outputs.