EMBOSS

EMBOSS is a free open source software analysis package specially developed for the needs of the molecular biology (bioinformatics) community. The software automatically copes with data in a variety of formats and even allows transparent retrieval of sequence data from the web. Also, as extensive libraries are provided with the package, it is a platform to allow other scientists to develop and release software in true open source spirit. EMBOSS also integrates a range of currently available packages and tools for sequence analysis into a seamless whole. EMBOSS breaks the historical trend towards commercial software packages.

History

EMBOSS was first released in 1998. The project was initiated by Alan Bleasby at the HGMP-RC and is now maintained by the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) and the Sanger Institute.

Features

EMBOSS includes a comprehensive set of sequence alignment tools such as Waterman-Eggert and Smith-Waterman algorithms. It also has tools for protein motif identification including profiles and position-specific score matrices. The package includes simple rapid database searching techniques, and more complex (and slower) approaches such as hidden Markov models.

Applications

EMBOSS has applications for sequence alignment, rapid database searching with sequence patterns, protein motif identification, nucleotide sequence pattern analysis (for example, identification of CpG islands or genome mapping), codon usage analysis for small genomes, and much more.

See also

• Bioinformatics
• Sequence alignment
• Smith-Waterman algorithm
• Hidden Markov model

External links

• Official EMBOSS website

EMBOSS Resources
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