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Showing posts from November, 2025

BLAST ON UNIX/LINUX TERMINAL

  If you work with DNA, RNA, or proteins, BLAST is one of those tools you end up treating like an old friend. Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) is a high-speed algorithm that compares a query sequence against massive biological databases to find regions of similarity. In everyday scientific life, BLAST helps you to Identify unknown sequences, predict gene or protein function, detect evolutionary relationships, annotate genomes, Spot antimicrobial resistance genes and Validate cloning and PCR results among others. Think of BLAST as the Google Search of molecular biology except it scans nucleotides and amino acids instead of web pages. How to Install Standalone BLAST on Unix/Linux 1. Download the BLAST+ Executables Head to NCBI’s FTP server and grab the latest BLAST+ release: wget https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/blast/executables/LATEST/ncbi-blast-*.x64-linux.tar.gz *Requirement x64 bits system.   2. Extract the Package tar -xvzf ncbi-blast-*.tar.gz You should see a folde...

NAVIGATING UNIX/LINUX TERMINAL

The Unix/Linux terminal (also known as the command line or shell) is a powerful text-based interface that allows users to interact with the operating system directly. Through simple commands, you can manage files, install software, automate tasks, and execute scripts efficiently. It is an essential tool for bioinformatics, system administration, and development. 15 Simple Terminal Commands for Beginners 1. pwd – Print Working Directory Displays the full path of the current directory you are in. pwd   2. ls – List Files and Directories Lists the files and folders in the current directory. ls            # Basic listing ls -l         # Detailed view with permissions, size, and date ls -a         # Includes hidden files   3. cd – Change Directory Used to navigate between directories. cd /home/user/Documents    # Move to a specific directory cd .. ...