METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING SEQUENCE HOMOLOGY DETECTION

In a sequence homology detection aspect of the invention, a computer-based method of detecting homologies between a plurality of sequences in a database and a query sequence comprises the following steps. First, the method includes accessing patterns associated with the database, each pattern representing at least a portion of one or more sequences in the database. Next, the query sequence is compared to the patterns to detect whether one or more portions of the query sequence are homologous to portions of the sequences of the database represented by the patterns. Then, a score is generated for each sequence detected to be homologous to the query sequence, wherein the sequence score is based on individual scores generated in accordance with each homologous portion of the sequence detected, and the sequence score represents a degree of homology between the query sequence and the detected sequence.