September 1, 2009 (Vol. 29, No. 15)
URL:
http://cg1.iis.sinica.edu.tw/~mybs/index.php
Rating:
Strong Points: Nice tutorials
Weak Points: Bland site design
Summary:
Gone are the days of just sequencing an organism’s genome. Now, more than ever, scientists seek to understand the meaning behind the As, Ts, Gs, and Cs. Sequencing a gene is a great first step, but what turns that gene on or off? Part of the answer to that question relies on transcription factors (proteins that bind DNA and regulate the expression of genes) and the sequences of DNA to which they bind. The MYBS is a web server that offers tools relating to the identification of transcription factor binding sites in yeast (specifically, Saccharomyces cerevisiae). Researchers can search for predicted and known binding motifs, and scan through DNA-binding affinity data for various transcription factors, to name some of the features. The web layout is nothing fancy, but the tutorials are thorough and the analytical tools on this site are useful for anyone looking to decode the “code of life.”