A Meta Heuristic Solution for Closest String Problem Using Ant Colony System

Suppose ∑ is the alphabet set and S is the set of strings with equal length over alphabet ∑. The closest substring problem seeks for a substring over ∑ that minimizes the maximum hamming distance with other substrings in S. The closest substring problem is NP-complete. This problem has particular importance in 180 F. Bahredar et al computational biology and coding theory. In this paper we present an algorithm based on ant colony system. The proposed algorithm can solve closest substring problem with reasonable time complexity. Experimental results have shown the correctness of algorithm. At the end, a comparison with one genetic algorithm is also given.