What is Blast2GO?
- Blast2GO is a bioinformatics platform for the functional analysis of genomic datasets.
- It allows analyzing and visualizing newly sequenced genomes by combining state-of-the-art methodologies, standard resources and algorithms.
- Blast2GO allows gaining biological insights fast and easy - even for completely novel genomes.
- Perform out-of-the-box the entire workflow of functional analysis and annotation of your transcriptomic datasets including its biological interpretation.
- Functional Annotation: Blast2GO is an ALL in ONE bioinformatics solution for functional annotation of (novel) sequences and the analysis of annotation data. Its main function is to assign information about the biological function of gene or protein sequences by making use of diverse public resources like comparison algorithms and databases. The software identifies already characterized similar sequences and transfers its functional labels to the uncharacterized sequences. In this manner, it is possible to obtain functional information for a whole dataset much faster than through experimentation.
- Apart from mere "in-silico" functional sequence characterization, the software suite has many other functions including joined data-visualization and statistical analysis procedures. These features help the molecular biologist in the process of functional interpretation of experimental datasets. The software has been developed in JAVA, is platform independent. It basic version is offered entirely FREE to the scientific community (non-profit only).
Blast2GO Features
- Easy to install and maintain: no informatics knowledge required.
- Graphical and intuitive user interface.
- Sequence annotation data presented in spread-sheet format.
- Handle tens of thousand sequences in one project.
- Functional annotation in 3 steps: BLAST to find homologous sequences, MAPPING to retrieve GO terms and ANNOTATION to select reliable functions.
- Different annotation databases are supported: Gene Ontology Terms, Enzyme Codes and InterPro Domains.
- Highly configurable annotation settings which adapt to your data and requirements.
- Statistical charts to monitor your annotation progress and all the aspects of your results.
- Graphical display of annotation data through Gene Ontology graphs, pie and bar charts.
- Selection features based on keywords and functional information.
- Function enrichment analysis.
- Tools to manipulate Gene Ontology Graphs.
- Many input and export formats.
Blast2GO PRO
Blast2GO PRO is a subscription-based service that gives you access to advanced Blast2GO features.
By getting a Blast2GO PRO account you will be granted with a personal login to activate all PRO functions, thereby enjoying an enhanced application use within your trusted Blast2GO environment.
Key features of Blast2GO PRO:
- Faster database connectivity.
PRO provides a faster connection architecture and near-by database servers to speed up your annotation jobs.
Simply connect to the fastest and most up-to-date Blast2GO servers via your PRO-Account. - Get access to CloudBlast.
CloudBlast allows you to execute standard NCBI Blast+ sequence alignments directly via Blast2GO PRO in our dedicated computing cloud. This Blast2GO PRO Community Resource is a high-performance, secure and cost-optimized solution for your analysis.
- Priority support service.
By becoming a PRO user you will have access to a support ticket system that guarantees assistance within 48 hours.
You will also obtain a prioritized service for new feature development.
- Many additional application features.
PRO offers an array of interesting additional features and an accelerated feature development.
New features allow you to work with standard sequence IDs, auto-save your projects, validate your annotations, more statistic charts and many more.
Basic and PRO Feature Comparison Chart
| Feature | BASIC | PRO |
| Functional Annotation (GO assignment) | % | % |
| Basic statistical charts for all major analysis steps | % | % |
| Graphical Gene Ontology data mining | % | % |
| Enrichment Analysis using Fisher's Exact Test | % | % |
| Blast2GO Apps (PSORTb, Venn Diagram, etc.) | % | % |
| Access to cloud-based options (Blast, InterPro, etc.) | X | % |
| High-Performance Blast2GO PRO GO Mapping and Annotation | X | % |
| Gene Finding for Eukaryotes and Prokaryotes | X | % |
| Differential Expression Analysis for Pairwise and TimeCourse | X | % |
| DeNovo RNA-Seq Transcript Quantification | X | % |
| More Annotation features (taxa filter, validation, etc.) | X | % |
| Work with multiple datasets in parallel | X | % |
| Workflows (Design, Run, Share) | X | % |
| Select subsets of sequences based on its biological functions, names, etc. | X | % |
| GFF Viewer | X | % |
| Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) | X | % |
| Advanced statistical charts (WordCloud, TreeMap) | X | % |
| Advanced GO Graph Visualization (Color Graphs, etc.) | X | % |
| Sequences Toolbox (batch rename, find similar, translate to longest ORF, etc.) | X | % |
| Many data-export options (PDF reports, custom fasta, annot and generic data formats) | X | % |
| BioMart data import (Verteb., Metazoa, Plants, Protists, Fungi) | X | % |
| Priority Support | X | % |
