The Minimum Entropy Mapping Spectrum of a DNA Sequence

Periodicities in a DNA sequence contain information about its function and structure. Frequency analysis can be used to reveal such periodicities. A definition of spectrum for DNA sequences is proposed, based on an entropy minimization criterion. It is shown that the properties of the proposed spectrum are those expected from the spectrum of a symbolic sequence. Applications to simulated and experimental DNA sequences are presented and compared against classical techniques to prove the effectiveness of the proposed method.