DAVID WS

DAVID WS provides functional annotation, enrichment analysis, and integrated visualization of large gene and protein lists by leveraging the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery knowledgebase to support interpretation of high-throughput genomic and proteomic data.

Key Features:

• Functional interpretation: Integrated biological knowledgebases and analytic tools extract biological meaning from large gene or protein datasets.
• Annotation and visualization: Annotates genes and proteins and supports visualization of complex datasets for interpretation.
• Programmatic access (DAVID-WS): Stateful web services enable automated, programmatic interaction and overcome limitations of URL-based, stateless APIs.
• Sample clients: Example client implementations are provided in Java, Perl, Python, and Matlab and distributed under the DAVID License.
• Scalability: Designed to process and analyze large gene and protein lists typical of high-throughput experiments.

Scientific Applications:

• Functional annotation: Assigns biological terms and annotations to gene and protein lists for downstream interpretation.
• Gene expression profiling: Interprets differentially expressed gene lists from transcriptomic studies.
• Proteomics: Annotates and analyzes protein lists derived from mass spectrometry and other proteomic workflows.
• Systems biology: Supports pathway- and network-level interpretation of large-scale genomic and proteomic datasets.
• Workflow integration: Enables incorporation of DAVID analyses into automated computational workflows via DAVID-WS.

Methodology:

DAVID integrates data from multiple biological databases to annotate genes and proteins and supports visualization of complex datasets; DAVID-WS implements stateful web services that maintain session information to address URL-based API limitations.