sRNA-target Prediction Organizing Tool
Rationale Computational approaches for sRNA target prediction have limitations but are relied upon to generate testable hypotheses for sRNA function. Some algorithms are available online or downloadable (e.g., TargetRNA2, IntaRNA), however these tools frequently yield distinct results, have different data output formats and default search parameters. Therefore, manually compiling results from these disparate tools and integrating the predictions with existing experimental data is not trivial. We have generated an innovative approach to streamline use of multiple existing sRNA target prediction algorithms and integrate predictions with experimental data to generate a unified set of target predictions. To this end, we have developed SPOT a flexible software pipeline that searches for sRNA-mRNA binding sites in parallel using separate search tools, collates the predictions, and integrates experimental data using customizable results filters.