$$\textsc {McDag}$$ M C D A G : indexing maximal common subsequences for k strings

Abstract Analyzing and comparing sequences of symbols is among the most fundamental problems in computer science, possibly even more so in bioinformatics. Maximal Common Subsequences (MCSs), i.e., inclusion-maximal sequences of non-contiguous symbols common to two or more strings, have only recently...

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Main Authors: Giovanni Buzzega, Alessio Conte, Roberto Grossi, Giulia Punzi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2025-04-01
Series:Algorithms for Molecular Biology
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s13015-025-00271-z
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author Giovanni Buzzega
Alessio Conte
Roberto Grossi
Giulia Punzi
author_facet Giovanni Buzzega
Alessio Conte
Roberto Grossi
Giulia Punzi
author_sort Giovanni Buzzega
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Analyzing and comparing sequences of symbols is among the most fundamental problems in computer science, possibly even more so in bioinformatics. Maximal Common Subsequences (MCSs), i.e., inclusion-maximal sequences of non-contiguous symbols common to two or more strings, have only recently received attention in this area, despite being a basic notion and a natural generalization of more common tools like Longest Common Substrings/Subsequences. In this paper we simplify and engineer recent advancements in MCSs into a practical tool called $$\textsc {McDag}$$ M C D A G , the first publicly available tool that can index MCSs of real genomic data, and show that its definition can be generalized to multiple strings. We demonstrate that our tool can index pairs of sequences exceeding 10,000 base pairs within minutes, utilizing only 4-7% more than the minimum required nodes. For three or more sequences, we observe experimentally that the minimum index may exhibit a significant increase in the number of nodes.
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spelling doaj-art-fbb0cec12c0a42f9a6e5ab9746b2a31c2025-08-20T02:27:50ZengBMCAlgorithms for Molecular Biology1748-71882025-04-0120112110.1186/s13015-025-00271-z$$\textsc {McDag}$$ M C D A G : indexing maximal common subsequences for k stringsGiovanni Buzzega0Alessio Conte1Roberto Grossi2Giulia Punzi3Dipartimento di Informatica, Università di PisaDipartimento di Informatica, Università di PisaDipartimento di Informatica, Università di PisaDipartimento di Informatica, Università di PisaAbstract Analyzing and comparing sequences of symbols is among the most fundamental problems in computer science, possibly even more so in bioinformatics. Maximal Common Subsequences (MCSs), i.e., inclusion-maximal sequences of non-contiguous symbols common to two or more strings, have only recently received attention in this area, despite being a basic notion and a natural generalization of more common tools like Longest Common Substrings/Subsequences. In this paper we simplify and engineer recent advancements in MCSs into a practical tool called $$\textsc {McDag}$$ M C D A G , the first publicly available tool that can index MCSs of real genomic data, and show that its definition can be generalized to multiple strings. We demonstrate that our tool can index pairs of sequences exceeding 10,000 base pairs within minutes, utilizing only 4-7% more than the minimum required nodes. For three or more sequences, we observe experimentally that the minimum index may exhibit a significant increase in the number of nodes.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13015-025-00271-zCommon subsequencesInclusion maximalityDirected acyclic graphIndex data structure
spellingShingle Giovanni Buzzega
Alessio Conte
Roberto Grossi
Giulia Punzi
$$\textsc {McDag}$$ M C D A G : indexing maximal common subsequences for k strings
Algorithms for Molecular Biology
Common subsequences
Inclusion maximality
Directed acyclic graph
Index data structure
title $$\textsc {McDag}$$ M C D A G : indexing maximal common subsequences for k strings
title_full $$\textsc {McDag}$$ M C D A G : indexing maximal common subsequences for k strings
title_fullStr $$\textsc {McDag}$$ M C D A G : indexing maximal common subsequences for k strings
title_full_unstemmed $$\textsc {McDag}$$ M C D A G : indexing maximal common subsequences for k strings
title_short $$\textsc {McDag}$$ M C D A G : indexing maximal common subsequences for k strings
title_sort textsc mcdag m c d a g indexing maximal common subsequences for k strings
topic Common subsequences
Inclusion maximality
Directed acyclic graph
Index data structure
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s13015-025-00271-z
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