Final answer:
The E-value that indicates the best quality match is 0.001, as it is the smallest value presented and shows the highest level of significance.
Step-by-step explanation:
The E-value, or Expect value, is commonly used in biological sequence analysis, especially when searching databases with a query sequence to find homologous sequences. The E-value represents the number of matches one can expect to find by chance when searching a database.
A lower E-value indicates a more significant match because it implies a lower chance of the match being due to random chance. Therefore, comparing the E-values given: 0.01, 1, 0.001, 10; the E-value that indicates the best quality match is 0.001 because it is the smallest value, suggesting the highest level of significance for the match.
The lower the E-value, the better the quality match. So, out of the given options, option c) 0.001 indicates the best quality match.
For example, an E-value of 0.001 means that the probability of obtaining a match as good as or better than the observed alignment by chance is 0.001 or 0.1%.