FASTA version summary
$Id: fasta_versions.html 5 2008-04-28 13:12:42Z pearson $
April, 2008
Currently, there are four different versions of the FASTA programs that can be downloaded from the
FASTA Software WWW site.
Here I try to explain the major differences.
| Version | New Programs | Other changes |
|---|
| fasta-35.3 | None | Ability to search subsets of databases using GI or accession lists |
| fasta-35 |
+lalign35
+ggsearch35
+glsearch35
-prss3
-prfx3
|
FASTA v35 provides significant improvements in statistical accuracy and program efficiency in threaded (multi-CPU, multi-core) environments. The program now automatically produces 500 random shuffles when small libraries are searched. Thus, prss and prfx are no longer required; ssearch35 and fastx35 provide the same function. |
| fasta34 |
+ssearch3
+fasts3/tfasts3
+fastf3/tfastf3
-lfasta
-lalign
-tfasta
|
FASTA v34 is the last version of the FASTA3 series before the
significant changes introduced with FASTA v35. The FASTA v3
programs were first introduced in 1996, with threaded code
for multi-processors, more accurate statistical estimates, and
optimal Smith-Waterman alignments with ssearch. More
recent versions (v34) provided accelerated Smith-Waterman searches
using Altivec and SSE2 vector processors. FASTA v34 is no longer
updated for bug fixes. |
| fasta2 |
+lfasta
+tfasta
|
FASTA v2 was introduced in 1995, improving sensitivity by
calculated gapped alignment scores. Modern (V34 and V35) versions of
FASTA have significantly more robust statistical estimates, threaded
code, and vectorized Smith-Waterman, so FASTA v2 should not be used
for database searching. However, until lalign was addeed
to FASTA v35 in March, 2007, FASTA v2 was the only source for
the lalign program. Today, the only programs provided in
FASTA v2 that are not provided in FASTA v35 are the Kyte-Doolittle
hydropathy plotter grease and the classic (though very
inaccurate) secondary structure prediction programs chofas
and garnier |
The current stable version of the FASTA programs is version 35,
and older releases of version 35
are
available
to make it easier for software packagers to work with a consistent
version of the software. However,
the
CURRENT
version of FASTA should be used whenever possible. Many bug reports
reflect older versions of the software.
Description of minor changes:
changes_v35.html