Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
420706 | Discrete Applied Mathematics | 2007 | 13 Pages |
This paper provides exact probability results for waiting times associated with occurrences of two types of motifs in a random sequence. First, we provide an explicit expression for the probability generating function of the interarrival time between two clumps of a pattern. It allows, in particular, to measure the quality of the Poisson approximation which is currently used for evaluation of the distribution of the number of clumps of a pattern. Second, we provide explicit expressions for the probability generating functions of both the waiting time until the first occurrence, and the interarrival time between consecutive occurrences, of a structured motif. Distributional results for structured motifs are of interest in genome analysis because such motifs are promoter candidates. As an application, we determine significant structured motifs in a data set of DNA regulatory sequences.