Reconstruction of protein and nucleic acid sequences. V. Computer-simulated tests of various tactics for reconstructing the sequences of transfer ribonucleic acids

One hundred hypothetical polynucleotides of varying chain length and composition and of random sequence were generated and their chemical degradation simulated by a computer. Included in the study were 20 hypothetical polymers with the composition and chain length of a transfer RNA. A second computer program attempted to reconstruct the sequences from the nucleotide composition and the simulated fragments produced. Approximately 700 reconstructions were attempted from various sets of fragments generated from the 100 polymers. The dependence of the probability of reconstructing the original sequences on the methods of producing and isolating the fragments was studied.