DNA sequence assembly

The Human Genome Project is developing a complete representation of the information underlying human genetic make-up, as well as the genetic make-up of several other species that are either important for comparative scientific understanding, relied on for progress in human medicine, or of direct industrial or agricultural interest. It is widely held that DNA sequencing throughput will have to be increased by orders of magnitude to complete the task in the time frame of 15 years that was laid out for the Human Genome Project, and that such dramatic increases will rely in large part on automating the several experimental and interpretive steps involved in DNA sequencing. The authors focus here on the challenges associated with developing algorithms and software tools for automating the assembly of the DNA pieces to reconstruct the original sequence.<>