BioDAS

http://www.biodas.org/wiki/Main_Page

Genome annotation is the process of attaching biological information to sequences.[6] It consists of two main steps:

1. identifying elements on the genome, a process called gene prediction, and
2. attaching biological information to these elements.

The Distributed Annotation System (DAS) defines a communication protocol used to exchange annotations on genomic or protein sequences. It is motivated by the idea that such annotations should not be provided by single centralized databases, but should instead be spread over multiple sites. Data distribution, performed by DAS servers, is separated from visualization, which is done by DAS clients. The advantages of this system are that control over the data is retained by data providers, data is freed from the constraints of specific organisations and the normal issues of release cycles, API updates and data duplication are avoided.

DAS is a client-server system in which a single client integrates information from multiple servers. It allows a single machine to gather up sequence annotation information from multiple distant web sites, collate the information, and display it to the user in a single view. Little coordination is needed among the various information providers.

DAS is heavily used in the genome bioinformatics community. Over the last years we have also seen growing acceptance in the protein sequence and structure communities.