BOL: Related items

BLAST+ updated !!!

Jit — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 16:55:24 -0500

A new version (2.2.31) of the stand-alone BLAST executables (Linux, Windows and MacOSX on FTP) is now available. New features include support for BLAST-XML2 specification (information here) and JSON BLAST output format, as well as several bug fixes and improvements. The BLAST AMI at AWS will also be updated to 2.2.31 (see this BLAST Help page for more information). For a full list of improvements, see the release notes.

More at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/news/06-16-2015-blast-plus-update/?

sequenceserver

Jit — Fri, 10 Mar 2017 08:51:55 -0600

SequenceServer lets you rapidly set up a BLAST+ server with an intuitive user interface for use locally or over the web.

More at http://sequenceserver.com.

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/wurmlab/sequenceserver

NCBI Magic-BLAST

Jit — Tue, 14 Aug 2018 18:11:11 -0500

Magic-BLAST is a tool for mapping large next-generation RNA or DNA sequencing runs against a whole genome or transcriptome. Each alignment optimizes a composite score, taking into account simultaneously the two reads of a pair, and in case of RNA-seq, locating the candidate introns and adding up the score of all exons. This is very different from other versions of BLAST, where each exon is scored as a separate hit and read-pairing is ignored.

Magic-BLAST incorporates within the NCBI BLAST code framework ideas developed in the NCBI Magic pipeline, in particular hit extensions by local walk and jump (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26109056), and recursive clipping of mismatches near the edges of the reads, which avoids accumulating artefactual mismatches near splice sites and is needed to distinguish short indels from substitutions near the edges.

Address of the bookmark: https://ncbi.github.io/magicblast/

Magic-BLAST

Shruti Paniwala — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 15:18:36 -0500

Address of the bookmark: https://ncbi.github.io/magicblast/

Elastic BLAST !

Abhi — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 18:14:57 -0500

ElasticBLAST is a new way to BLAST large numbers of queries, faster and on the cloud. Here are the top three reasons you should use ElasticBLAST:

1. ElasticBLAST can handle much LARGER queries!

ElasticBLAST can search query sets that have hundreds to millions of sequences and against BLAST databases of all sizes.

2. ElasticBLAST is FASTER

ElasticBLAST distributes your searches across multiple cloud instances to process them simultaneously. The ability to scale resources in this way allows you to process large numbers of queries in a shorter time than you could with BLAST+.

3. ElasticBLAST is EASY to run on the cloud

ElasticBLAST is easy to set up using our step-by-step instructions (Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP)) and allows you to leverage the power of the cloud. Once configured, it manages the software and database installation, handles partitioning of the BLAST workload among the various instances, and deallocates cloud resources when the searches are done.

ElasticBLAST also selects the instance (i.e., machine) type for you based on database size. Of course, you can also choose the instance type manually if you prefer.

Address of the bookmark: https://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/doc/elastic-blast/

Chemical Elements of Bioinformatics

Rahul Agarwal — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 16:35:39 -0500

You must be familiar with periodic table and colour pattern, but this time you are going to amaze by new elements table by Eagle genomics. Just check it out and have fun :)

http://elements.eaglegenomics.com/

BLAST options, setting and defaults

Jit — Mon, 10 Dec 2018 08:29:37 -0600

BLAST stands for Basic Local Alignment Search Tool and was developed by Altschul et al. (1990) and significantly improved by Altschul et al. (1997). It is a very fast search algorithm that is used to separately search protein or DNA databases. BLAST is best used for sequence similarity searching, rather than for motif searching. For searches using a query sequence of fewer than twenty residues, PatMatch is the best choice. Another sequence alignment tool that may yield different results from BLAST, and may be useful for motif searching, is FASTA. To search nonplant datasets, try NCGR BLAST or NCBI BLAST.

A fairly complete on-line guide to BLAST searching can be found at the NCBI BLAST Help Manual. For a theoretical overview of BLAST, see the NCBI BLAST Course. Additional information can be found in the BLAST 2.0 Release Notes

	BLASTN	BLASTP	BLASTX	TBLASTN	TBLASTX	PSIBLAST
Gap opening penalty: cost to open a gap [integer]	default = 5	default = 11 limited values are supported	default = 11 limited values are supported	default = 11 limited values are supported	default = 11 limited values are supported	default = 5
Gap extension penalty: cost to extend a gap [integer]	default = 2	default = 1 a 0 in this field means to use the default	default = 1 a 0 in this field means to use the default	default = 1 a 0 in this field means to use the default	default = 1 a 0 in this field means to use the default	default = 2
Nucleic match: reward for a match in the BLAST portion of run [integer]	default = 1	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	default = 1
Nucleic mismatch: penalty for a mismatch in the blast portion of run [integer]	default = -3	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	default = -3
Expectation value: (E) [real]	default = 10.0	default = 10.0	default = 10.0	default = 10.0	default = 10.0	default = 10.0
Word size: the size of the initial word that must be matched between the database and the query sequence	default = 11	default = 3	default = 3	default = 3	default = 3	default = 11
Max scores: Number of one-line descriptions (V) [Integer]	default = 25	default = 25	default = 25	default = 25	default = 25	default = 25
Max alignments: number of alignments to show (B) [integer]	default = 15	default = 15	default = 15	default = 15	default = 15	default = 15
Query filter: filter applied to the query sequence	default = DUST	default = SEG	default = SEG	default = SEG	default = SEG	default = DUST
Query genetic code: genetic code to be used in BLASTX translation of the query	n/a	n/a	default = universal	default = universal	default = universal	n/a
Matrix: substitution matrix to be used for amino acid comparisons	no default	default = blosum62	default = blosum62	default = blosum62	default = blosum62	no default

Supported and Suggested Values for Gap Open and Extension in BLASTP, BLASTX, TBLASTN, and TBLASTX

Gaps Open	Gap Extension
10	1
10	2
11	1
8	2
9	2

Address of the bookmark: https://www.arabidopsis.org/Blast/BLASToptions.jsp

NCBIBLAST+ 2.14.1 now available

Neel — Wed, 30 Aug 2023 02:36:13 -0500

#NCBIBLAST+ 2.14.1 now available with improved documentation, faster and more reliable database downloads, and some bug fixes.

Check out the changes they made.

They added the cleanup-blastdb-volumes.py script to remove unused BLAST database volumes. Read the documentation here.

They also switched the protocol from ftp to https to access BLAST databases for increased performance and reliability when downloading data from the NCBI with the update_blastdb.pl script.

And fixed a few bugs related to downloading data from the NCBI, and mt_mode crashing blastn and blastx.

Check out the release notes.

Download BLAST+ 2.14.1

Questions or comments? Please write the BLAST help desk.

More info and download: https://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/doc/blast-news/2023-BLAST-News.html

BLAST+ 5: Key Updates and Enhancements for Modern Bioinformatics

LEGE — Sat, 07 Dec 2024 22:37:48 -0600

The BLAST+ 5 (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) update has introduced several key enhancements aimed at improving performance, user experience, and compatibility with evolving genomic data standards. Here are the major updates:

Database Enhancements:
- The BLAST databases have shifted fully to the version 5 (v5) format, which integrates built-in taxonomy information. This allows for more detailed and efficient sequence annotation and analysis.
- Protein databases in v5 are now accession-based, supporting a broader range of sequences, including those from high-throughput projects and the Pathogen Detection Project. These databases also accommodate structural proteins with multi-character chain identifiers.
Performance Improvements:
- Adaptive Composition-Based Statistics (CBS) is available as an experimental feature, enhancing the detection of novel results in protein-protein comparisons.
- Updated algorithms improve the stability of search results, especially when fewer hits are requested than the default output.
Compatibility:
- Support for the older v4 databases has been discontinued. The v5 format is now the default for all BLAST database updates, ensuring alignment with current standards in bioinformatics.
User-Friendly Changes:
- Naming conventions for databases have been simplified to enhance clarity and ease of use. For example, database names no longer include version tags like "_v5".
Future-Proofing:
- BLAST+ 5 aligns with current and upcoming data requirements, ensuring that researchers have access to the most comprehensive and modern resources for sequence alignment.

These updates reflect NCBI's commitment to maintaining BLAST as a leading tool for sequence analysis. For detailed release notes and additional guidance, refer to NCBI Insights here

Ancestral Genomes: a resource for reconstructed ancestral genes and genomes across the tree of life

Abhimanyu Singh — Fri, 02 Nov 2018 08:16:27 -0500

Ancestral Genomes (http://ancestralgenomes.org) is a resource for comprehensive reconstructions of these ‘fossil genomes’. Comprehensive sets of protein-coding genes have been reconstructed for 78 genomes of now-extinct species that were the common ancestors of extant species from across the tree of life.

Address of the bookmark: http://ancestralgenomes.org/