Available with STN Express, Version 6.01 and higher

Search millions of nucleic acid and protein sequences in REGISTRY using the BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) algorithm through CAS Registry BLAST*.

To access CAS Registry BLAST using STN Express, select CAS Registry BLAST from the Logon menu.

The CAS Registry BLAST splash screen is displayed followed by a window with logon prompts.

The Result Set Manager window of BLAST is displayed. A list of results is displayed if you have done any previous searches using the same login ID. Click New Search to conduct a new BLAST search.

Select Similar Sequences in the New Search window.

In the Similar Sequences window, enter the name to be used to track and save the search results and the sequence to be searched. You may type the sequence, copy/paste it from another application, or download a sequence from an existing file. You can enter very large sequences; the character limit is 50,000 characters.

Click on a BLAST program in the Program Selection window.

Select a database subset, or search the entire database.

Specify the BLAST settings. For more information on BLAST settings, refer to the NCBI BLAST web page.

Enter the maximum number of answers to be retrieved in the Max No. of Answers: box or accept the default. Up to 1000 answers may be retrieved by a BLAST search.

After your search is initiated, the Result Set Manager window automatically shows you the status of your search. If you close this window before the search is complete, the search is still run in the background.

You can view the results after Complete appears in the Status column. Highlight the line with your sequence search results and click View Results.

The BLAST report is displayed showing the number of sequences in the results, alignment scores, alignment summary, and alignment details.

To transfer the CAS Registry Numbers® for all the sequences, click Get STN Data. You can also select some of the sequences and click Get STN Data.

The Get STN Data window is displayed. Select the option that includes the data that you want to retrieve on STN. Transfer all alignment data for postprocessing is selected as the default. It automatically includes the BLAST alignment data in an STN Express report. If you do not want to include the BLAST alignment data in an STN Express report, deselect it.

Prompts for saving the BLAST alignment data, login to STN, and capturing the transcript follow. Once an online session is initiated, STN Express with Discover! automatically enters the appropriate files and conducts searches to obtain the STN results that you requested in the Get STN Data window. You may use the L-numbers created as a result of transferring data from CAS Registry BLAST to STN in the same way as any other L-numbers in your online session. For example, you may refine the results in CAplusSM, display selected answers in CAplus, or search the Registry L-number answer sets in other STN files.

*Available for commercial accounts only. A charge will appear on your invoice for each completed BLAST search. Enter HELP COST in REGISTRY for current cost information

BLAST is a registered trademark of the National Library of Medicine.