SpliceNest: visualizing gene structure and alternative splicing based on EST clusters

Messenger RNA sequences, expressed sequence tags (ESTs), and, in particular, consensus sequences of clustered ESTs provide valuable information about splice variants of genes. We have mapped such (predicted) human mRNA sequences onto human genomic DNA to compute gene structure and splice variants. The results of this computation have been collected in a public database, SpliceNest, with a web-based, interactive graphical user interface. The quality of the presented data profits from previous assembly of ESTs and allows for analysis of gene structure and detection of splice variants in conjunction with the clones and libraries that indicated variants. A new, web-accessible database, SpliceNest, contains predicted human gene structure and splice variants derived from human mRNAs and coding sequences predicted from EST assemblies and mapped onto genomic DNA