A new 2-D graphical representation of DNA sequences and their numerical characterization

We consider a novel 2-D graphical representation of DNA sequences according to chemical structures of bases, reflecting distribution of bases with different chemical structure, preserving information on sequential adjacency of bases, and allowing numerical characterization. The representation avoids loss of information accompanying alternative 2-D representations in which the curve standing for DNA overlaps and intersects itself. Based on this representation we present a numerical characterization approach by the leading eigenvalues of the matrices associated with the DNA sequences. The utility of the approach is illustrated on the coding sequences of the first exon of human β-globin gene.