The modular structure of informational sequences

It is shown that DNA sequences can be decomposed into smaller units much the same as texts can be decomposed into syllables, words, or groups of words. Those smaller units (modules) are extracted from DNA sequences according to statistical criteria. Tests with sequences of known modular structure (two novels and a FORTRAN source code) were performed. The rate to which DNA sequences can be decomposed into modules (modularity) turns out to be a very sensitive measure to distinguish DNA sequences from random sequences.