Part E - Identify a common characteristic of your hit sequences

Using BLAST: Can You Identify a Pathogen from a Nucleotide Sequence?
With rapid advances in sequencing technology, the availability of sequences of specific genes and of entire genomes is exploding. These sequences are stored in a number of searchable databases. Comparison of new sequences with sequences of known or assumed function is one of the most widely used bioinformatics tools available to molecular biologists. Here you will use the BLAST search tool to identify a human pathogen.

BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) is a publicly available program for searching known nucleotide and amino acid sequences from several bioinformatics databases organized by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). The BLAST algorithm statistically ranks the similarity between an input or query sequence and all other sequences present in its databases. In each database, the DNA and protein sequences are linked to information about

    genes and gene families
    the organism the sequence is derived from
    the function of the protein (known or predicted)
    protein structural information

Thus, BLAST provides a powerful tool for linking gene or protein sequence information with function and biological origin.
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Part E - Identify a common characteristic of your hit sequences

    Go back to the results page and scroll to the Descriptions section.

By examining the information in the Description column of the Descriptions section, it should be clear that your query sequence is most similar to sequences obtained from the fungus Fusarium oxysporum or other closely related fungal species.
Other than the genus and species information, what characteristics do most of the top hit sequences share? Select the two best answers.
Other than the genus and species information, what characteristics do most of the top hit sequences share? Select the two best answers.
   They contain a ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequence.
   a ) They contain a sequence of an intergenic spacer.
   b )They contain a genomic DNA sequence.
   c ) They contain a sequence of an internal transcribed spacer.