Question

In a multidimensional search matrix, for aligning N sequences, an (N+2)-dimensional matrix is needed to be filled with alignment scores.

(a) True

(b) False

This question was addressed to me in an online quiz.

The doubt is from Exhaustive Algorithms in portion Multiple Sequence Alignment of Bioinformatics

Answer 1

Right option is (b) False

The best explanation: In a multidimensional search matrix, for aligning N sequences, an N-dimensional matrix is needed to be filled with alignment scores. For instance, for three sequences, a three-dimensional matrix is required to account for all possible alignment scores. Back-tracking is applied through the three-dimensional matrix to find the highest scored path that represents the optimal alignment.