A grid-based system for microbial genome comparison and analysis

Genome comparison and analysis can reveal the structures and junctions of genome sequences of different species. As more genomes are sequenced, genomic data sources are rapidly increasing such that their analysis is beyond the processing capabilities of most research institutes. The grid is a powerful solution to support large-scale genomic data processing and genome analysis. This paper presents the Microbase project that is developing a grid-based system for genome comparison and analysis, and discusses the first implementation of the system (called MicrobaseLite). MicrobaseLite uses a scalable computing environment to support computationally intensive microbial genome comparison and analysis, employing state-of-the-art technologies of Web services, notification, comparative genomics and parallel computing. Microbase will support not only system-defined genome comparison and analysis but also user-defined, remotely conceived genome analysis.