PanWeb: A web interface for pan-genomic analysis

PLoS One. 2017 May 24;12(5):e0178154. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0178154. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

With increased production of genomic data since the advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS), there has been a need to develop new bioinformatics tools and areas, such as comparative genomics. In comparative genomics, the genetic material of an organism is directly compared to that of another organism to better understand biological species. Moreover, the exponentially growing number of deposited prokaryote genomes has enabled the investigation of several genomic characteristics that are intrinsic to certain species. Thus, a new approach to comparative genomics, termed pan-genomics, was developed. In pan-genomics, various organisms of the same species or genus are compared. Currently, there are many tools that can perform pan-genomic analyses, such as PGAP (Pan-Genome Analysis Pipeline), Panseq (Pan-Genome Sequence Analysis Program) and PGAT (Prokaryotic Genome Analysis Tool). Among these software tools, PGAP was developed in the Perl scripting language and its reliance on UNIX platform terminals and its requirement for an extensive parameterized command line can become a problem for users without previous computational knowledge. Thus, the aim of this study was to develop a web application, known as PanWeb, that serves as a graphical interface for PGAP. In addition, using the output files of the PGAP pipeline, the application generates graphics using custom-developed scripts in the R programming language. PanWeb is freely available at http://www.computationalbiology.ufpa.br/panweb.

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Computational Biology
  • Computer Graphics
  • Databases, Genetic
  • Escherichia coli / classification
  • Escherichia coli / genetics
  • Genome, Bacterial
  • Genomics*
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
  • Internet
  • Phylogeny
  • Programming Languages
  • Software*
  • User-Computer Interface*

Grants and funding

This work was part of the Genomic and Proteomic Pará Network (Rede Paraense de Genômica e Proteômica) and was supported by the State of Pará Research Foundation (Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Pará) and by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq).