An overview of computer software developed to search biological sequence databases.

The scientific community has established a number of databases to receive and maintain the abundant biological sequence information being generated by research investigators worldwide. For researchers in an increasing number of biological disciplines, the information stored in these databases has become an invaluable tool in their daily research endeavors. This article reviews the organization of the largest nucleic acid and protein sequence databases and discusses some of the commonly available computer software that has been developed for searching them.