Talk:Consensus sequence

first paragraph is unclear

As a chemistry undergraduate with above average knowledge of biology, I didn't understand the first paragraph , it feels like the article is only for those who already know what a consensus sequence is. As far as I understand a consensus sequence is a series of bases in which certain bases have a higher frequency than others, usually this sequence is a binding site for a protein, as explained in a later paragraph starting "A consensus sequence may be...". Whmice (talk) 14:34, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Better?

The introduction is very precise which gives it a lot of strength. Nevertheless, I agree that it isn't written for the lay-person and may an insufficient sufficient guide for understanding the concept. Perhaps something like this would be better:

In molecular biology and bioinformatics, consensus sequence refers to the common order of nucleotides or amino acids in a region. It represents the results of a multiple sequence alignment in which related sequences are compared to each other, and similar sequence motifs are calculated. The consensus sequence shows which residues, either nucleotide or amino acid, are most abundant in the alignment at each position. Such information is important when considering sequence dependent enzymes such as a promoter. Dlpolanco (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 20:08, 5 May 2012 (UTC).