Ambiscript symmetries make it easy to spot biologically relevant palindromes

Palindromes are easily identified as groups of Ambiscript characters, which can be rotated 180° without changing the text.

Genetic palindromes are strings of nucleotides for which the complementary DNA is identical. Palindromic sequences frequently have biological significance, such as marking the sites where restriction enzymes cut DNA.

Ambigraphic nucleic acid notations, like Ambiscript, make it easy to spot palindromes by visually scanning sequences for points around which a string of symbols can be rotated 180° without changing the text1. This technique is illustrated in the figure to the right.


1 Rozak DA, Rozak AJ. 2008. Simplicity, function, and legibility in an enhanced ambirgaphic nucleic acid notation. BioTechniques 44(6):811-813. (PMID: 18476835)