GSIT: An integrated web-tool for identification of genomic signatures in highly similar DNA sequences

Accurate identification and characterization of infectious agent and its subtype is essential for efficient treatment of infectious diseases on a target population of patients. Comparative biology of microbial populations in vitro and in vivo can identify signatures that may be used to develop and improve diagnostic procedures. Here we report Genomic Signature Identification Tool (GSIT) a web based tool for identification and validation of genomic signatures in a group of similar DNA sequences of microorganisms. GSIT uses multiple sequence alignment to identify the unique base sites and scores them for inclusion as genomic signature for the particular strain. GSIT is a web based tool where the front-end in designed using HTML/CSS and Javascript, while back-end is run using CGI-Perl. AVAILABILITY: The server is freely available at the http://genome-sign.net/gsit