We present exact algorithms for the NP-complete
Longest
Common
Subsequence problem for sequences with nested arc annotations, a problem occurring in structure comparison of RNA. Given two sequences
of length at most
n and nested arc structure, our algorithm determines (if existent) in time
$
O(3.31^{k_1 + k_2 } \cdot n)
$
O(3.31^{k_1 + k_2 } \cdot n)
an arc-preserving subsequence of both sequences, which can be obtained by deleting (together with corresponding arcs)
k
1 letters from the first and
k
2 letters from the second sequence. Thus, the problem is fixed-parameter tractable when parameterized by the number of deletions.
This complements known approximation results which give a quadratic time factor-2-approximation for the general and polynomial
time approximation schemes for restricted versions of the problem. In addition, we obtain further fixed-parameter tractability
results for these restricted versions.
Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), project PEAL (parameterized complexity and exact algorithms), NI 369/1-1,1-2.
Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), project OPAL (optimal solutions for hard problems in computational
biology), NI 369/2-1.
Partially supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Zentrum für Bioinformatik Tübingen (ZBIT).