8.4 View BLAST Reports Graphically

BLAST reports can be complicated. Viewing them graphically can help you understand them better, especially when the reports are very long. Appendix D includes a simple Perl program that converts tabular output from NCBI-BLAST reports into a GIF, PNG, or JPEG image. Figure 8-2, Figure 8-4, Figure 8-8, and Figure 8-9 were created with this program. Appendix E contains a program that converts the standard BLAST reports to the NCBI tabular format. The programs are available at this book's O'Reilly web site.

Figure 8-2 is an example of a BLASTX search. Appendix D contains more information on the display.

Figure 8-2. A graphical view of a BLASTX report