Alfresco--a workbench for comparative genomic sequence analysis.

Comparative analysis of genomic sequences provides a powerful tool for identifying regions of potential biologic function; by comparing corresponding regions of genomes from suitable species, protein coding or regulatory regions can be identified by their homology. This requires the use of several specific types of computational analysis tools. Many programs exist for these types of analysis; not many exist for overall view/control of the results, which is necessary for large-scale genomic sequence analysis. Using Java, we have developed a new visualization tool that allows effective comparative genome sequence analysis. The program handles a pair of sequences from putatively homologous regions in different species. Results from various different existing external analysis programs, such as database searching, gene prediction, repeat masking, and alignment programs, are visualized and used to find corresponding functional sequence domains in the two sequences. The user interacts with the program through a graphic display of the genome regions, in which an independently scrollable and zoomable symbolic representation of the sequences is shown. As an example, the analysis of two unannotated orthologous genomic sequences from human and mouse containing parts of the UTY locus is presented.