Fast and sensitive search of information databases for biological relationships

Sequence comparison has become an essential and standard tool in the analysis of genomic data. Genome projects will decipher much of the genetic information in many organisms, including humans. As a result, the computational cost of databank searches will increase dramatically. In addition, the search for biologically meaningful homology between a newly determined sequence and sequences already stored in the various databanks becomes increasingly important as most of the new data will be in raw, not understood form. The detection of sufficient similarity between a newly determined sequence to a protein of know function or even known 3D-structure in a databank allows one to transfer most of the knowledge from one sequence to the other. The result can be enormous savings in genetic and biochemical laboratory efforts.