Technology rapidly is advancing the study of genetics and the search for causes of major diseases. Analysis of genomic sequences that once took days or months now can be performed in a matter of hours. Yet, for most genetic scientists, the lack of access to computer servers and programs capable of quickly handling vast amounts of data can hinder genetic advancements. Now, a group of scientists at the University of Missouri has introduced a game changer in the world of biological research. The online, free service, , has been developed to handle large data sets which could lead to faster results in the study of plant and animal genomics.
“This work actually started mainly because of the demand of MU scientists,” said , an associate professor of computer science in the . “RNA sequencing is the means by which researchers use modern sequencing techniques to study RNA, or ribonucleic acid. The process has increased the speed that researchers can note the differences in gene expression among genomes—but it comes at a cost. Often, scientists must sift through incredibly large amounts of data to get to usable results. RNAMiner has cut that time drastically.”
Cheng and doctoral students Jilong Li and Jie Hou partnered with members of the , the , the , the , the and the to analyze vast genomic data sets and to formulate the design of RNAMiner.
The website was created to be user-friendly and allows users to upload data, analyze it through as many as five steps against the complete genomes of five species: human, mouse, Drosophila melanogaster (a type of fly), TAIR10 arabidopsis (a small flowering plant) and Clostridium perfringens (a type of bacterium). Genomic data for any species is welcome for upload to grow the database.
Reviewed 2016-03-17