CABRA: Cluster and Annotate Blast Results Algorithm.

Pablo Mier,Miguel A Andrade-Navarro

doi:10.1186/s13104-016-2062-y

Abstract

BackgroundBasic local alignment search tool (BLAST) searches are frequently used to look for homologous sequences and to annotate a query protein, but the increasing size of protein databases makes it difficult to review all results from a similarity search.FindingsWe developed a web tool called Cluster and Annotate Blast Results Algorithm (CABRA), which enables a rapid BLAST search in a variety of updated reference proteomes, and provides a new way to functionally evaluate the results by the subsequent clustering of the hits and annotation of the clusters. The tool can be accessed from the following web-resource: http://cbdm-01.zdv.uni-mainz.de/~munoz/CABRA.ConclusionsCluster and Annotate Blast Results Algorithm simplifies the analysis of the results of a BLAST search by providing an overview of the result’s annotations organized in clusters that can be iteratively modified by the user.

Highlights

Basic local alignment search tool (BLAST) searches are frequently used to look for homologous sequences and to annotate a query protein, but the increasing size of protein databases makes it difficult to review all results from a similarity search
Cluster and Annotate Blast Results Algorithm (CABRA)’s pipeline and its implementation in a user‐friendly web tool CABRA consists of different modules implemented in Perl that work in three steps (Fig. 1) [4]
Example of the performance of CABRA in comparison to other web tools To illustrate the performance of CABRA with an example, as well as its utility and improved output, we used as query sequence the human protein NEIL2 (UniProt:Q969S2), using default parameters

Summary

Introduction

Basic local alignment search tool (BLAST) searches are frequently used to look for homologous sequences and to annotate a query protein, but the increasing size of protein databases makes it difficult to review all results from a similarity search. Cluster and Annotate Blast Results Algorithm (CABRA) [4] uses this different approach, as it clusters the results of a search in a selected database, and not the database itself.

Results

Conclusion