title: An overview of multiple sequence alignment.
abstract: Multiple sequence alignment is perhaps the most commonly applied bioinformatics technique. It often leads to fundamental biological insight into sequence-structure-function relationships of nucleotide or protein sequence families. In this unit, an overview of multiple sequence alignment techniques is presented, covering a history of nearly 30 years from the early pioneering methods to the current state-of-the-art techniques. Methodological and biological issues and end-user considerations, as well as alignment evaluation issues, are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Integrative Bioinformatics Institute (IBIVU), Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Simossis
authors.affiliation: Integrative Bioinformatics Institute (IBIVU), Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kleinjung
authors.affiliation: Integrative Bioinformatics Institute (IBIVU), Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jaap
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Heringa
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D002874:Chromosome Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D016415:Sequence Alignment / Q000379:methods*; D017421:Sequence Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D017385:Sequence Homology; D012984:Software