EasyBio: A Bioinformatics Web Platform to Analyze Families of Genes

AGOSTINI F.; HERNANDEZ P.; GALVEZ ROJAS S.

Information Technology and Systems. ICITS 2021.

Springer

Lugar: Nueva York; Año: 2021; p. 210 - 219

Next GenerationSequencing (NGS) techniques have facilitated genome sequencing in acost-effective way and have impacted the work of geneticists andbioinformaticians. In particular, the study of gene families and transcriptionfactors in plants is among the fields affected by this revolution, and remainsa task involving many manual steps and the use of differently located computingresources. From a Bioinformatics point of view, the first steps to take inthese studies are well-defined and imply the management of a complex set ofcomputer tools difficult to install and setup. We introduce EasyBio, a webplatform whose aim is to strengthen the field of Bioinformatics providing user-friendlytools to biologists and allowing them to focus on the biological meanings ofthe results instead of applying efforts to the computing technical aspects.EasyBio facilitates the user to interact with one of the main databases ofplants, EnsemblPlants, to retrieve gene data and to incorporate it into an easyto use pipeline of tools. At the same time, EasyBio is versatile enough toallow a wide range of customization and output possibilities, displayingresults in real time and interactively. The user does not need to learn aboutcomplex procedures, purely technical, or to deal with involute command lineconsoles. A clear web interface, a good user experience (with high qualityresults) and a good design of the backend are at the heart of this webplatform. EasyBio is also free-to-use.