Web-based bioinformatic resources for protein and nucleic acids sequence alignment

Abstract

DNA sequencing is the deciphering of hereditary information. It is an indispensable prerequisite for 
many biotechnical applications and technologies and the continual acquisition of genomic information 
is very important. This opens the door not only for further research and better understanding of the 
architectural plan of life, but also for future clinical diagnosis based on the genetic data of individuals. 
Bioinformatics can be broadly defined as the creation and development of advanced information and 
computational techniques for problems in biology. More narrowly, bioinformatics is the set of 
computing techniques used to manage and extract useful information from the DNA/RNA/protein 
sequence data being generated (at high volumes) by automated techniques (e.g. DNA sequencers, DNA 
microarrays) and stored in large public databases (e.g. GenBank, Protein DataBank). Certain method for 
analyzing genetic/protein data has been found to be extremely computationally intensive, providing 
motivation for the use of powerful computers. The advent of the Internet and the World Wide Web has 
substantially increased the availability of information and computational resources available to 
experimental biologists. This review will describe the current on-line resources available, including 
protein and nucleic acids sequence alignment.