Adaptation of cuckoo search algorithm for the Motif Finding problem

In Bioinformatics, Motif Finding is defined as the ability to locate repeated patterns in the sequence of nucleotides or amino acids. Identifying these motifs in DNA sequences is a computationally hard problem which requires efficient algorithms. Cuckoo search (CS) is a new promising metaheuristic search algorithm, CS has been inspired by the breeding behavior of cuckoos and belongs to a class of novel nature-inspired algorithm. CS has been successfully applied to solve continuous optimization problems; however, its ability to solve discrete problems has not been sufficiently explored. In this paper, applying CS algorithm for solving Planted Motif Problems is proposed. Experimental results show that the proposed adaptation can find the motifs fast and efficiently compared to other existing algorithms.