ElasticBLAST

ElasticBLAST performs BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) sequence alignments in cloud environments to accelerate sequence classification and enable large-scale functional annotation and evolutionary analysis.

Key Features:

• Cloud-Native Application: Built as a native cloud application with integration for Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
• Scalability: Handles query volumes from a few sequences to thousands by distributing computations across numerous virtual CPUs, scaling to thousands of virtual CPUs when necessary.
• BLAST Alignments: Executes BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) sequence alignments.
• Database Support: Supports both user-provided databases and databases available from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).
• Cost Efficiency: Employs cloud-native orchestration tools and can request discounted instances to reduce operational cost.
• Resource Management: Automatically deletes cloud resources upon task completion.

Scientific Applications:

• Sequence Categorization: Categorize query sequences via BLAST alignments for identification and classification.
• Functional Annotation: Support functional annotation by identifying homologs through BLAST results.
• Evolutionary Analysis: Enable evolutionary studies by assessing sequence similarity and homology.
• Large-Scale Genomic Processing: Process extensive genomic datasets that require high-throughput BLAST alignments.

Methodology:

Performs BLAST alignments by distributing computations across virtual CPUs in cloud environments (AWS, GCP), uses cloud-native orchestration and can request discounted instances, supports user-provided and NCBI databases, and automatically deletes resources upon completion.