Q.47 Correctly match the following Bioinformatic tool/Database with its respective
Utility.
Bioinformatic tool/Database Utility
P. BLAST 1. Database for 3D protein structures
Q. Bowtie 2. Tool to identify similarity of a query sequence to existing sequences available in databanks
R. AlphaFold 3. Tool to align short read DNA sequences obtained from Next-generation sequencing to a reference genome
S. PDB 4. AI tool to predict protein structures
(A) P-2; Q-3; R-1; S-4
(B) P-2; Q-3; R-4; S-1
(C) P-3; Q-2; R-4; S-1
(D) P-4; Q-1; R-2; S-3
BLAST identifies sequence similarities between a query and database sequences. The correct matching is option (B): P-2, Q-3, R-4, S-1.
Correct Answer
Option (B) P-2; Q-3; R-4; S-1 is correct. BLAST (P) matches utility 2 for sequence similarity searches. Bowtie (Q) aligns short NGS reads to references (3). AlphaFold (R) predicts protein structures using AI (4). PDB (S) stores 3D protein structures (1).
Option Explanations
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(A) P-2; Q-3; R-1; S-4: Incorrect; mismatches AlphaFold (R) as a database (1) instead of predictor (4), and PDB (S) as predictor.
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(B) P-2; Q-3; R-4; S-1: Correct; aligns each tool precisely with its primary function in bioinformatics workflows.
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(C) P-3; Q-2; R-4; S-1: Incorrect; swaps BLAST (P) and Bowtie (Q)—BLAST does similarity, not NGS alignment.
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(D) P-4; Q-1; R-2; S-3: Incorrect; misassigns BLAST as structure predictor and Bowtie as database.
Tool Utilities
| Tool/Database | Utility | Key Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| BLAST (P) | 2 | Compares query sequences to databases for homology |
| Bowtie (Q) | 3 | Maps short NGS reads to reference genomes |
| AlphaFold (R) | 4 | AI-based 3D protein structure prediction |
| PDB (S) | 1 | Archives experimentally determined protein structures |
