EASY - an expert analysis SYstem for interpreting database search outputs

With the ever-increasing need to handle large volumes of sequence data effi ciently and reliably, we have developed the EASY system for performing comb ined protein sequence and pattern database searches. EASY runs searches sim ultaneously and distils results into a concise 1-line diagnosis. By bringin g together results of several different analyses, EASY provides a rapid mea ns of evaluating biological significance, minimising the risk of inferring false relationships, for example from relying exclusively on top BLAST hits . The program has been tested using a variety of protein families and was i nstrumental in resolving family assignments in a major update of the PRINTS database.