Question

A BLAST search can be used for which of these applications?

Select one:
a. to analyze microarray data
b. to determine whether a gene has an essential function in an organism
c. to visualize the locations of all the genes on a single chromosome
d. to display the reading frame of a nucleotide sequence
e. to compare a nucleotide or amino acid sequence to databases from a variety of species

Answer 1

A BLAST search is mainly used to compare a nucleotide or amino acid sequence to sequence databases from various species for purposes like identifying mutations and studying evolutionary relationships. The answer is option E.

Step-by-step explanation:

A BLAST search, which stands for basic local alignment search tool, is a bioinformatics tool that can be used to compare a nucleotide or amino acid sequence to databases from a variety of species.

This powerful tool is often used to find regions of similarity between sequences, which can help identify homologous regions and provide evidence for evolutionary relationships. Moreover, it can help in identifying mutations in DNA codes, locating homoplasies, and deciphering accurate phylogenies by comparing sequences from different organisms to construct evolutionary trees.