PatMatch: a program for finding patterns in peptide and nucleotide sequences

Here, we present PatMatch, an efficient, web-based pattern-matching program that enables searches for short nucleotide or peptide sequences such as cis-elements in nucleotide sequences or small domains and motifs in protein sequences. The program can be used to find matches to a user-specified sequence pattern that can be described using ambiguous sequence codes and a powerful and flexible pattern syntax based on regular expressions. A recent upgrade has improved performance and now supports both mismatches and wildcards in a single pattern. This enhancement has been achieved by replacing the previous searching algorithm, scan_for_matches [D'Souza et al. (1997), Trends in Genetics, 13, 497–498], with nondeterministic-reverse grep (NR-grep), a general pattern matching tool that allows for approximate string matching [Navarro (2001), Software Practice and Experience, 31, 1265–1312]. We have tailored NR-grep to be used for DNA and protein searches with PatMatch. The stand-alone version of the software can be adapted for use with any sequence dataset and is available for download at The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR) at . The PatMatch server is available on the web at for searching Arabidopsis thaliana sequences

The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR): a model organism database providing a centralized, curated gateway to Arabidopsis biology, research materials and community

Arabidopsis thaliana is the most widely-studied plant today. The concerted efforts of over 11 000 researchers and 4000 organizations around the world are generating a rich diversity and quantity of information and materials. This information is made available through a comprehensive on-line resource called the Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR) (http://arabidopsis.org), which is accessible via commonly used web browsers and can be searched and downloaded in a number of ways. In the last two years, efforts have been focused on increasing data content and diversity, functionally annotating genes and gene products with controlled vocabularies, and improving data retrieval, analysis and visualization tools. New information include sequence polymorphisms including alleles, germplasms and phenotypes, Gene Ontology annotations, gene families, protein information, metabolic pathways, gene expression data from microarray experiments and seed and DNA stocks. New data visualization and analysis tools include SeqViewer, which interactively displays the genome from the whole chromosome down to 10 kb of nucleotide sequence and AraCyc, a metabolic pathway database and map tool that allows overlaying expression data onto the pathway diagrams. Finally, we have recently incorporated seed and DNA stock information from the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center (ABRC) and implemented a shopping-cart style on-line ordering system