What does reverse-complement actually mean?

[Buse Özden]

Hello everybody!

I have been doing some research about homework 4. Turns out reverse-complement of a sequence is not what I think it is. For instance, if the sequence is ACCTGAG, its reverse-complement is CTCAGGT, not TGGACTC. You can read it here A Computer Scientist's Dictionary for Genomics

Why the reverse part matter? To obtain the complementary sequence with the same directionality (like 5' to 3' for example) as the sequence we have? If so, we are writing a function that returns the complementary sequence and flips it, right?

[Zeynep Çalıcı]

Hi Buse,

We write the DNA sequence in the 5 '- 3' direction. Therefore, to represent one strand in the 5 '- 3' orientation, we need to make a reverse complement to the other strand.

 

If you just reverse it, it will be between 3 '- 5'. When you complete the reverse sequence in reverse, the sense sequence will be 5'-3 '. Both sequences are now represented in the 5'-3' major direction of the sense thread.

[Buse Özden]

So the point is directionality. I understand now, thank you Zeynep. 

28 Mart 2021 Pazar tarihinde saat 12:09:13 UTC+3 itibarıyla S.Zeynep Çalıcı şunları yazdı:

[Zeynep Çalıcı]

You are welcome. 

Good work. 

28 Mar 2021 Paz 12:20 tarihinde Buse Özden <buse....@ogr.iu.edu.tr> şunu yazdı:

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