ParPEST: a pipeline for EST data analysis based on parallel computing.
BACKGROUND
Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) are short and error-prone DNA sequences generated from the 5' and 3' ends of randomly selected cDNA clones. They provide an important resource for comparative and functional genomic studies and, moreover, represent a reliable information for the annotation of genomic sequences. Because of the advances in biotechnologies, ESTs are daily determined in the form of large datasets. Therefore, suitable and efficient bioinformatic approaches are necessary to organize data related information content for further investigations.


RESULTS
We implemented ParPEST (Parallel Processing of ESTs), a pipeline based on parallel computing for EST analysis. The results are organized in a suitable data warehouse to provide a starting point to mine expressed sequence datasets. The collected information is useful for investigations on data quality and on data information content, enriched also by a preliminary functional annotation.


CONCLUSIONS
The pipeline presented here has been developed to perform an exhaustive and reliable analysis on EST data and to provide a curated set of information based on a relational database. Moreover, it is designed to reduce execution time of the specific steps required for a complete analysis using distributed processes and parallelized software. It is conceived to run on low requiring hardware components, to fulfill increasing demand, typical of the data used, and scalability at affordable costs.
D'Agostino
Nunzio
N
Department of Structural and Functional Biology, University Federico II, 80134 Naples, Italy. nunzio.dagostino@unina.it
Aversano
Mario
M
Chiusano
Maria Luisa
ML
D000465:Algorithms; D001483:Base Sequence; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods*; D003201:Computers; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000378:metabolism; D016208:Databases, Factual; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D001330:Electronic Data Processing; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D015723:Gene Library; D015894:Genome, Human; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D011381:Programming Languages; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D012984:Software
D018076:DNA, Complementary