Instructions for Query Gene

Query Gene is a web-based program that searches for information about genetic sequences on the web. It is distinctive because it is not limited to a single database, but instead captures genetic information on the entire Internet using Google. Query Gene works by taking a gene sequence in combination with other search terms, finds similar sequences using NCBI's MegaBlast, retrieves the descriptions of those matching genes from NCBI's Entrez Nucleotide database, and performs a series of Google searches using the combination of your original search terms and each gene description. The percent sequence identity is indicated alongside each match: this indicates how much of your queried sequence is contained in the sequence it matches

The following example illustrates Query Gene's capabilities:

Nucleotide Sequence: (numbers and spaces optional)
1 acatttgctt ctgacacaac tgtgttcact agcaacctca aacagacacc atggtgcatc 61 tgactcctga ggagaagtct gccgttactg ccctgtgggg caaggtgaac gtggatgaag 121 ttggtggtga ggccctgggc aggctgctgg tggtctaccc ttggacccag aggttctttg 181 agtcctttgg ggatctgtcc actcctgatg ctgttatggg caaccctaag gtgaaggctc 241 atggcaagaa agtgctcggt gcctttagtg atggcctggc tcacctggac aacctcaagg 301 gcacctttgc cacactgagt gagctgcact gtgacaagct gcacgtggat cctgagaact 361 tcaggctcct gggcaacgtg ctggtctgtg tgctggccca tcactttggc aaagaattca 421 ccccaccagt gcaggctgcc tatcagaaag tggtggctgg tgtggctaat gccctggccc 481 acaagtatca ctaagctcgc tttcttgctg tccaatttct attaaaggtt cctttgttcc 541 ctaagtccaa ctactaaact gggggatatt atgaagggcc ttgagcatct ggattctgcc 601 taataaaaaa catttatttt cattgc

Search Terms:
"genetic disease associated with"

You will notice the search results identify the sequence as human hemoglobin beta and the resulting Google searches retrieve "sickle cell" disease in the search results, a known genetic disease associated with human hemoglobin beta.

Google searching can often be more of an art than a science, so if your query does not yield expected results, trying rewording it or including extra adjectives. At present, only the first thirty-two words of the final query are searched. Click on the "Google Query" links in your search results to edit the original Google searches or click on the "Google Scholar" links to search Google Scholar instead.

Query Gene uses Google's Web API to perform Google searches and is limited to 1,000 daily Google searches as per the rules of Google's licensing agreement. You are encouraged to obtain your own Google API key by registering at www.google.com/apis/ if you want more searches even if Query Gene exhausts its daily allotment (registration takes two minutes).

Thank you for using Query Gene! Also check out the Query Science homepage.

Please send questions, bug reports, and comments about this page to Justin Klekota klekota@fas.harvard.edu.