Sequence Similarity Searches

BLAST

• BLAST is the most commonly used sequence similarity search algorithm due to its speed.
• There are many places on the web where you can use BLAST:
  1. NCBI has a BLAST server available for public use.
  2. FlyBase has a BLAST server available for public use. It allows the search of fly-oriented search databases.
  3. CBI has a BLAST server available for Harvard employees. It is very speedy and allows greater user customization than NCBI's BLAST server.

Obtaining DRSC Sequences

• In order to use BLAST or a different sequence similarity search algorithm, you will need to obtain sequences to use as queries.
• The DRSC has a Sequence Extraction Tool available from the main menu. From this tool, DRSC amplicon sequences, HDC sequences, and fly gene sequences can be obtained.