EST Analysis Pipeline: Use of Distributed Computing Resources

This chapter describes how a pipeline for the analysis of expressed sequence tag (EST) data can be �implemented, based on our previous experience generating ESTs from Trichoderma spp. We focus on key steps in the workflow, such as the processing of raw data from the sequencers, the clustering of ESTs, and the functional annotation of the sequences using BLAST, InterProScan, and BLAST2GO. Some of the steps require the use of intensive computing power. Since these resources are not available for small research groups or institutes without bioinformatics support, an alternative will be described: the use of distributed computing resources (local grids and Amazon EC2).