As a follow-up to my previous email the first 5 rows,columns of the score matrix are: > blosum62[1:5,1:5] A R N D C A 4 -1 -2 -2 0 R -1 5 0 -2 -3 N -2 0 6 1 -3 D -2 -2 1 6 -3 C 0 -3 -3 -3 9 Comparing sequences ARN to ADC gives similarity scores: (s_AA = 4) + (s_RD = -2) + (s_NC = -3) = -1 and ARN to itself (s_AA = 4) + (s_RR = 5) + (s_NN = 6) = 15 and ADC to itself (s_AA = 4) + (s_DD = 6) + (s_CC = 9) = 19 so the similarity matrix is 15 -1 -1 19 -- William D. Shannon, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Biostatistics in Medicine Division of General Medical Sciences and Biostatistics Washington University School of Medicine Campus Box 8005, 660 S. Euclid St. Louis, MO 63110 Phone: 314-454-8356 Fax: 314-454-5113 e-mail: [log in to unmask] web page: http://ilya.wustl.edu/~shannon