The objective of this project is to develop, within the context of the PROPHET II system, powerful new data visualization software to enhance the ability of the biological scientist to perceive an communicate significant information in DNA and protein sequence data. Phase I of the project focuses on the system analysis tasks necessary to design the software. The software includes a new base capability in PROPHET II to represent Styled Text (text in which such attributes as font, style, and color can vary from one character to another) and to present Styled Text effectively on graphics workstations and laser printers. The Styled Text capability, along with PROPHET's existing and future sequence editing and analysis algorithms, will be combined into an integrated sequence visualization tool to support pattern recognition of multiply- aligned sequences. Phase II consists of the implementation of this software and its evaluation by the PROPHET user community and by outside experts. A successful implementation of innovative data visualization capabilities for sequences, tested in the PROPHET environment and deployable on standard workstation and laser printer equipment, has excellent commercial potential as a software package for the molecular biology community.
