The point is that a computer search told gave us essentially the same thing that we learned from hybridization. Sequence similarity searches can detect much more distant relationships. Consequently, the similarity search is actually the most sensitive of the three tests. Also, these results demonstrate that it wasn't necessary to have a complete genomic sequence from L. maculans . Simply having the sequence for a closely-related fungus was adequate.
Collaborative projects require centralized databases and systematic methods for sharing data.
A centralized Web site provides access to resources covering all aspects of C. elegans biology. Standardized data objects allow integration of data from many different labs in a consistent format. Since ACeDB is an object-oriented database, any object can contain links to other data objects. Notice that the Allele object can also point back to its corresponding Locus object. Any lab can maintain a local ACeDB database, an submit objects as they generated from lab work.