2Filippaki (Fragoula Filippaki) | v1.0
This project presents a simple C-based computational tool for the identification of Open Reading Frames (ORFs) in prokaryotic DNA sequences. The program scans a nucleotide sequence, detects start codons (ATG), and identifies stop codons (TAA, TAG, TGA) in order to extract putative protein-coding regions.
Open Reading Frames (ORFs) represent continuous stretches of DNA that have the potential to encode proteins. Accurate identification of ORFs is a fundamental step in genome analysis and gene prediction.
This tool provides a simplified implementation of ORF detection for educational purposes in computational biology.
The program processes a single DNA sequence and performs sequential scanning for codon patterns.
It identifies:
- Start codon: ATG
- Stop codons: TAA, TAG, TGA
Once a start codon is detected, the sequence is scanned in triplets until a valid stop codon is found. The segment between them is extracted as a candidate ORF.
Input validation ensures that only valid nucleotide characters (A, T, G, C) are accepted.
The tool is implemented in C and is designed for Unix/Linux environments.
Main functional components include:
- Sequence validation
- ORF detection
- Codon-based scanning
- Optional reverse sequence analysis
gcc orf_finder.c -o orf_finderThis tool provides a lightweight implementation of ORF detection for educational purposes in computational biology.