Question:medium

Which of the following methods is/are used for local alignment of nucleotide sequences?

Show Hint

Smith-Waterman and BLAST are used for local alignment, whereas Needleman-Wunsch is used for global alignment and Neighbour-joining is used for phylogenetic analysis.
Updated On: Jun 5, 2026
  • Smith-Waterman algorithm
  • Needleman-Wunsch algorithm
  • BLAST
  • Neighbour-joining method
Show Solution

The Correct Option is A, C

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Local vs global alignment.
Local alignment hunts for the best matching patch inside two sequences, while global alignment lines up the full length end to end.

Step 2: Check Smith-Waterman.
The Smith-Waterman method uses dynamic programming made specifically for local alignment, so A is true.

Step 3: Check Needleman-Wunsch.
Needleman-Wunsch is the global alignment method, so it does not fit local alignment and B is false.

Step 4: Check BLAST and neighbour-joining.
BLAST is a fast local alignment search against databases, so C is true. Neighbour-joining only builds phylogenetic trees, not alignments, so D is false.

Step 5: Answer.
\[ \boxed{A,\ C} \]
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