BIOBASE introduces new genome sequence custom annotation tool

BIOBASE announced its launch of a new custom annotation tool designed to aid in functional annotation of next generation sequences from uncharacterized genomes. The BioKnowledge Transfer (BKT) tool, part of the PROTEOME^TM product, enables researchers to input novel protein sequences and easily extract functional information based on those sequences. The functional predictions are drawn from domain and Gene Ontology (GO) assignments for homologous proteins derived from over 15 years of manual curation from peer-reviewed literature on mammalian, yeast, worm, and plant species.

Dr. Frank Schacherer of BIOBASE GmbH, stated: "We've used a version of the BKT tool internally for many years, and based on growing demand externally, we further developed it and decided to make it available for our customers. We are confident many will find it an important resource for understanding gene function in novel genomes."

The launch of the BKT tool expands BIOBASE's presence in the NGS market, which they entered in 2010 with the successful launch of Genome Trax^TM, a solution that enables researchers to identify human genome variations of functional significance by mapping them to known elements such as gene regulatory sites and disease-linked mutations.