Tree of Life Activity Part 2

DNA and Protein Detectives

Given a mystery sequence, can we identify what species it likely came from?

We will use BLAST to search a large database full of sequences and try to find a match to our mystery sequence. BLAST includes several programs that are designed to work with either DNA or protein sequences.

For the mystery DNA, we will use blastn

DNA Sequence Files:

DNA Sequence 1

DNA Sequence 2

Copy and paste your sequence into the Query Sequence box on the BLAST page

For the mystery protein, we will use blastp

Protein Sequence Files:

Protein Sequence 1

Protein Sequence 2

Copy and paste your sequence into the Query Sequence box on the BLAST page

Click the "BLAST" button at the bottom of the page

Your results should look something like this (but not exactly the same, this is just an example):

Question: Can you find your top match?

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