Biomolecular sequence comparison is the origin of bioinformatics. This book gives a complete in-depth treatment of the study of sequence comparison. A comprehensive introduction is followed by a focus on alignment algorithms and techniques, proceeded by a discussion of the theory. The book examines alignment methods and techniques, features a new issue of sequence comparison - the spaced seed technique, addresses several new flexible strategies for coping with various scoring schemes, and covers the theory on the significance of high-scoring segment pairs between two unalignment sequences. Useful appendices on basic concepts in molecular biology, primer in statistics and software for sequence alignment are included in this reader-friendly text, as well as chapter-ending exercise and research questions A state-of-the-art study of sequence alignment and homology search, this is an ideal reference for advanced students studying bioinformatics and will appeal to biologists who wish to know how to use homology search tools.