Protein alignment algorithms with an efficient backtracking routine on multiple GPUs

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pairwise sequence alignment methods are widely used in biological research. The increasing number of sequences is perceived as one of the upcoming challenges for sequence alignment methods in the nearest future. To overcome this challenge several GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) computing approaches have been proposed lately. These solutions show a great potential of a GPU platform but in most cases address the problem of sequence database scanning and computing only the alignment score whereas the alignment itself is omitted. Thus, the need arose to implement the global and semiglobal Needleman-Wunsch, and Smith-Waterman algorithms with a backtracking procedure which is needed to construct the alignment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this paper we present the solution that performs the alignment of every given sequence pair, which is a required step for progressive multiple sequence alignment methods, as well as for DNA recognition at the DNA assembly stage. Performed tests show that the implementation, with performance up to 6.3 GCUPS on a single GPU for affine gap penalties, is very efficient in comparison to other CPU and GPU-based solutions. Moreover, multiple GPUs support with load balancing makes the application very scalable.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The article shows that the backtracking procedure of the sequence alignment algorithms may be designed to fit in with the GPU architecture. Therefore, our algorithm, apart from scores, is able to compute pairwise alignments. This opens a wide range of new possibilities, allowing other methods from the area of molecular biology to take advantage of the new computational architecture. Performed tests show that the efficiency of the implementation is excellent. Moreover, the speed of our GPU-based algorithms can be almost linearly increased when using more than one graphics card.</p

Development of risk maps to minimize uranium exposures in the Navajo Churchrock mining district

© 2009 deLemos et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Measures for interoperability of phenotypic data: minimum information requirements and formatting

BackgroundPlant phenotypic data shrouds a wealth of information which, when accurately analysed and linked to other data types, brings to light the knowledge about the mechanisms of life. As phenotyping is a field of research comprising manifold, diverse and time-consuming experiments, the findings can be fostered by reusing and combining existing datasets. Their correct interpretation, and thus replicability, comparability and interoperability, is possible provided that the collected observations are equipped with an adequate set of metadata. So far there have been no common standards governing phenotypic data description, which hampered data exchange and reuse.ResultsIn this paper we propose the guidelines for proper handling of the information about plant phenotyping experiments, in terms of both the recommended content of the description and its formatting. We provide a document called “Minimum Information About a Plant Phenotyping Experiment”, which specifies what information about each experiment should be given, and a Phenotyping Configuration for the ISA-Tab format, which allows to practically organise this information within a dataset. We provide examples of ISA-Tab-formatted phenotypic data, and a general description of a few systems where the recommendations have been implemented.ConclusionsAcceptance of the rules described in this paper by the plant phenotyping community will help to achieve findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable data

The Assessment of Radiation Exposures in Native American Communities from Nuclear Weapons Testing in Nevada

Native Americans residing in a broad region downwind from the Nevada Test Site during the 1950s and 1960s received significant radiation exposures from nuclear weapons testing. Because of differences in diet, activities, and housing, their radiation exposures are only very imperfectly represented in the Department of Energy dose reconstructions. There are important missing pathways, including exposures to radioactive iodine from eating small game. The dose reconstruction model assumptions about cattle feeding practices across a year are unlikely to apply to the native communities as are other model assumptions about diet. Thus exposures from drinking milk and eating vegetables have not yet been properly estimated for these communities. Through consultations with members of the affected communities, these deficiencies could be corrected and the dose reconstruction extended to Native Americans. An illustration of the feasibility of extending the dose reconstruction is provided by a sample calculation to estimate radiation exposures to the thyroid from eating radio-iodine-contaminated rabbit thyroids after the Sedan test. The illustration is continued with a discussion of how the calculation results may be used to make estimates for other tests and other locations

G-PAS 2.0 - an improved version of protein alignment tool with an efficient backtracking routine on multiple GPUs

Several highly efficient alignment tools have been released over the past few years, including those taking advantage of GPUs (Graphics Processing Units). G-PAS (GPU-based Pairwise Alignment Software) was one of them, however, with a couple of interesting features that made it unique. Nevertheless, in order to adapt it to a new computational architecture some changes had to be introduced. In this paper we present G-PAS 2.0 - a new version of the software for performing high-throughput alignment. Results show, that the new version is faster nearly by a fourth on the same hardware, reaching over 20 GCUPS (Giga Cell Updates Per Second)

G-DNA – a highly efficient multi-GPU/MPI tool for aligning nucleotide reads

DNA/RNA sequencing has recently become a primary way researchers generate biological data for further analysis. Assembling algorithms are an integral part of this process. However, some of them require pairwise alignment to be applied to a great deal of reads. Although several efficient alignment tools have been released over the past few years, including those taking advantage of GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), none of them directly targets high-throughput sequencing data. As a result, a need arose to create software that could handle such data as effectively as possible. G-DNA (GPU-based DNA aligner) is the first highly parallel solution that has been optimized to process nucleotide reads (DNA/RNA) from modern sequencing machines. Results show that the software reaches up to 89 GCUPS (Giga Cell Updates Per Second) on a single GPU and as a result it is the fastest tool in its class. Moreover, it scales up well on multiple GPUs systems, including MPI-based computational clusters, where its performance is counted in TCUPS (Tera CUPS)