title: WebACT--an online companion for the Artemis Comparison Tool.
abstract: WebACT is an online resource which enables the rapid provision of simultaneous BLAST comparisons between up to five genomic sequences in a format amenable for visualization with the well-known Artemis Comparison Tool (ACT). Comparisons can be generated on-the-fly using sequences directly retrieved via EMBL database queries, or by entering or uploading user sequences. Furthermore, pre-computed comparisons are available between all publicly available, completed prokaryotic genomes and plasmids currently contained within the Genome Reviews database (372 sequences, representing 175 different species). The system is designed to minimize the volume of downloaded data and maximize performance. Genome sequences, annotation and pre-computed comparisons are stored in a relational database allowing flexible querying based on user-defined sequence regions, from whole genome to a defined region flanking a specified gene. Comparison and sequence files, whether computed online or retrieved from the database of pre-computed genome comparisons, can be viewed online using ACT and are available for download.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Freely accessible at http://www.webact.org.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  User guide and worked examples are available at http://www.webact.org/WebACT/docs.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Bioinformatics, Division of Molecular Biosciences, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK. admin@webact.org
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Abbott
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Aanensen
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rutherford
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Butcher
authors.forename: B G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Spratt
mesh_terms: D019295:Computational Biology / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D003196:Computer Graphics; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D016678:Genome; D023281:Genomics; D020407:Internet; D010957:Plasmids / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment / Q000379:methods*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000379:methods*; D012984:Software; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014584:User-Computer Interface