Distance matrix with different length sequences - novice question

Question

[mootzk]

Hi all,

Real beginner here, so be gentle :)

In a project we're doing (in python), we want to create a distance matrix for a phylogenetic tree with multiple, different length sequences. However, what we've seen so far (AlignIO in biopython, etc.) requires the sequences' length to be equal. Is there any python-ian way to get the matrix with sequences of different length? Or any other indirect way that would get us to the same result.

Thanks,

Nir

Answer 1

[David W]

You will have to align your sequences before you can make a tree. The biopython tutorial has quite a few examples of how to script sequence alignment programs, and there are hundreds of general introductions to sequence alignment.