Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41703447›Full record

ArticleBMC bioinformatics2026

Cascade PSI-BLAST 2.0: a fast-searching parallelized remote homology detection tool and development of Cascade web server 2.0.

Soumya Nayak, Dheemanth Reddy Regati, Murugavel Pavalam, R Sowdhamini

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC bioinformatics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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1citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Soumya NayakNational Centre for Biological Sciences (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research), GKVK Campus, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560065, India.
Dheemanth Reddy RegatiNational Centre for Biological Sciences (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research), GKVK Campus, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560065, India.
Murugavel PavalamNational Centre for Biological Sciences (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research), GKVK Campus, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560065, India.
R SowdhaminiNational Centre for Biological Sciences (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research), GKVK Campus, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560065, India. mini@ncbs.res.in.

Funding

Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India BT/PR40187/BTIS/137/9/2021Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology IBAB/MSCB/182/2022Science and Engineering Research Board JBR/2021/000006
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundRemote homology detection is critical for inferring evolutionary and functional relationships among proteins, but divergence below 30% identity often hinders standard sequence-based searches. Profile-based methods and HMMs improve sensitivity, yet many distant homologues remain undetected. Cascade PSI-BLAST uses efficient, iterative, multi-generation searches of intermediate hits to bridge sequence gaps, constructing successive PSSMs that reveal remote relationships without structural information. However, its application to ultra-large databases such as NR and UniProt is computationally intensive. We address this limitation by optimizing intermediate selection and enabling distributed execution across multiple CPUs or servers, significantly enhancing throughput and resource utilization while preserving detection sensitivity.

resultsWe applied the parallelized Cascade PSI-BLAST algorithm to sequences drawn from multiple SCOP classes to evaluate its sensitivity and predictive power on the GenDis database. Our method uncovers substantially more remote homologues, with less false positives, in both GenDis and UniProt compared to conventional searches. Large repositories such as NR can also be processed in a practical timeframe by distributing cascade searches across multiple servers. Finally, we have deployed a user-friendly web server for running cascade searches on smaller databases, including PDB and Swiss-Prot.

conclusionOur enhanced Cascade PSI-BLAST markedly improves detection of remote homologues across both large and curated databases by leveraging intermediate sequences and distributed execution. Multi-server parallelization reduces runtimes on expansive repositories such as NR to practical levels. The web server offers rapid, user-friendly searches on smaller datasets, while the standalone package supports scalable, customizable analyses on local infrastructure. Together, these tools provide a versatile, sequence-only platform for uncovering distant protein relationships, accelerating functional annotation and evolutionary insights.

Indexed as

Computational BiologyInternetProteinsSequence AlignmentSoftwareAlgorithmsDatabases, ProteinSequence Analysis, ProteinProteinsCascade PSI_BLASTGNU parallelParallel processingPSI BLASTRemote homology searchWebserver

Identifiers

PMID41703447
PMCPMC13020176

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.