CryGetter: A tool to automate retrieval and analysis of Cry protein data

Abstract

Background: For many years, the use of chemical agents to control crop pests has been degrading the environment, bringing problems to humans and all living things. An alternative to deal with the pests is the use of biopesticides, biological agents capable of controlling these harmful organisms. One kind of biopesticide is Bacillus thuringiensis, a Gram-positive bacterium that synthesizes a protein that, when ingested by the pests, kills them and does not harm other species. Results: Since the economical importance of Bacillus thuringiensis and its proteins significance, this work presents a software tool, called CryGetter, that is capable of retrieving data related to these proteins, store it and present it in a user friendly manner. The tool also aims to align the protein sequences and generate reports containing some statistical data concerning the alignments that were made. Conclusions: CryGetter was created to help researchers of Bacillus thuringiensis and its proteins to speed up their data retrieval and analysis, allowing them to generate more accurate results. In this sense, the tool circumvents the error prone task of manually getting all the necessary data and processing them in various software systems to get the same result as CryGetter gets in a unique semiautomatic environment.