Relationships in rank and file: Better sequence searches of genes and proteins

Since the sequencing of the human genome eight years ago, enormous progress has been made in analyzing and understanding it. Nevertheless, the function of most human genes is still barely understood. An important first step in determining the function of a gene or protein is to compare its sequence with the sequences of hundreds of other organisms that are experimentally easier to investigate. From the functions of related genes or proteins identified in these database searches, the researchers can often infer the unknown functions of human or animal genes.

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