Enhancing Multiple Sequence Alignment with Genetic Algorithms: A Bioinformatics Approach in Biomedical Engineering

Abstract

This study aimed to create a genetic information processing technique for the problem of multiple alignment of genetic sequences in bioinformatics. The objective was to take advantage of the computer hardware's capabilities and analyze the results obtained regarding quality, processing time, and the number of evaluated functions. The methodology was based on developing a genetic algorithm in Java, which resulted in four different versions: Gp1, Gp2, Gp3 and Gp4 . A set of genetic sequences were processed, and the results were evaluated by analyzing numerical behavior profiles. The research found that algorithms that maintained diversity in the population produced better quality solutions, and parallel processing reduced processing time. It was observed that the time required to perform the process decreased, according to the generated performance profile. The study concluded that conventional computer equipment can produce excellent results when processing genetic information if algorithms are optimized to exploit hardware resources. The computational effort of the hardware used is directly related to the number of evaluated functions. Additionally, the comparison method based on the determination of the performance profile is highlighted as a strategy for comparing the algorithm results in different metrics of interest, which can guide the development of more efficient genetic information processing techniques.