Implementation of a Parallel Algorithm for Protein Pairwise Alignment Using Reconfigurable Computing

This paper describes the design and implementation of a parallel pairwise alignment hardware, implemented in a FPGA device. This system is aimed at aligning pairs of proteins, using a dynamic programming algorithm. The alignment is done in parallel thanks to a pipelined approach. All functional blocks are described in detail. Experiments were done to access the performance of the system for up to pairs of 2000-amino acids-long proteins. Hardalign was compared with a similar algorithm implemented in software and running in a PC, resulting in a 1:10 speed-up ratio. Results encourage the continuity of the work, showing that reconfigurable computing can offer interesting solutions for bioinformatics problems.