title: An edit script for taxonomic classifications.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The NCBI taxonomy provides one of the most powerful ways to navigate sequence data bases but currently users are forced to formulate queries according to a single taxonomic classification. Given that there is not universal agreement on the classification of organisms, providing a single classification places constraints on the questions biologists can ask. However, maintaining multiple classifications is burdensome in the face of a constantly growing NCBI classification.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this paper, we present a solution to the problem of generating modifications of the NCBI taxonomy, based on the computation of an edit script that summarises the differences between two classification trees. Our algorithms find the shortest possible edit script based on the identification of all shared subtrees, and only take time quasi linear in the size of the trees because classification trees have unique node labels.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These algorithms have been recently implemented, and the software is freely available for download from http://darwin.zoology.gla.ac.uk/~rpage/forest/.
authors.affiliation: DEEB, IBLS, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK. r.page@bio.gla.ac.uk
authors.forename: Roderic D M
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Page
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Valiente
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D002965:Classification / Q000379:methods*; D039301:Computers, Molecular; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D030561:Databases, Nucleic Acid / Q000145:classification; D006801:Humans; D010802:Phylogeny; D013045:Species Specificity