Reduced memory nucleotide sequence comparison

Abstract

Comparisons between two nucleotide sequences can be performed by customized integrated circuitry that can implement a Smith Waterman analysis in a reduced memory footprint, storing and referencing only individual portions, or subsections, of a two-dimensional matrix that is representative of the comparison between the two nucleotide sequences. As the backtracking proceeds, backtracking metadata corresponding to a cell from a subsection that is not currently retained in memory can be required. Such a subsection can be regenerated from previously generated scores associated with checkpoint cells of the two-dimensional matrix that comprise two edges of the subsection being regenerated. Moreover, to further reduce memory consumption, the backtracking metadata stored for each cell can comprise four binary digits: two indicative of a directional assignment, one indicative of whether the corresponding cell is part of a deletion stretching across multiple contiguous cells, and one analogously indicative of insertions stretching across multiple contiguous cells.