Identifying homologs in Aiptasia

Questions I must answer before I can move on:

1) What is homology?

2) What bioinformatic method can I use to identify an Aiptasia gene sequence that is similar to the bait sequence?

3) Given the sequence of the bait gene (protein) and the transcriptome sequences from Aiptasia (DNA), Which flavor of Blast is the best one for this particular task?

3) Where can I go to perform a blast search against Aiptasia sequences?

4) If Aiptasia has a sequence that is similar to the bait, does that mean it is a homolog?

5) Does it mean that it performs the same function?


Step 1: Navigate to the appropriate database

Step 2: Determine how to access the blast function and select the appropriate "flavor" of blast

Step 3: Evaluate the results

Step 5: Prepare a written argument for whether the blast search identified an Aiptasia sequence that is likely a homolog of the bait sequence.

Step 6: Perform additional bioinformatic analysis if they seem appropriate (example, analyze the Aiptasia sequence using Pfam)

Step 6: Prepare a figure or table presenting the results of the blast and the additional bioinformatic analyses.