Title: BLAST Practice

Date: 28 January 2019

Raitonale: The purpose of this lab session was to practice using BLAST (specifically BLASTp) in order to begin learning how to add to gene annotation and determine protein function.

Tools: 

• Microsoft Surface Pro 5 Tablet
• DNA Master for Windows Software
• NCBI BLASTp Feature

Procedure: 

• Started DNA Master
• Performed the following sequence of commands (using a .fasta file for phage Elesar): “Export” –> “Create New Sequence from This Entry Only” –> “Genome” –> “Auto-Annotate”
• A gene was selected through the main listing of predicted genes menu, and then the “Products” tab was selected
• The sequence was copied and pasted into the “BLASTp” program on NCBI
• The first four of the annotations were also made for Elesar gene 1, including moving the ORF back in order to capture the full coding potential for the gene.

Results/Observations:

• The picture below is a summary of the BLASTp Results for gene 1:
• 
• The first four annotations made were:
  • SSC 45, 353 (start/stop codon)
  • CP: yes (coding potential)
  • SCS: Both-CS (starts choice source)
  • BLAST-Start: no significant BLAST alignments (BLASTp results & information)
• The remainder of the annotations will be made in later lab sessions

Conclusions/Next Steps: 

• The process for annotating genomes is becoming more clear as more practice is done on Elesar and DNA Master. The next steps for this lab would be to begin annotating the rest of Elesar’s genome and/or beginning to work on discovering NapoleonB’s genome and determining some of its functions.