A powerful pattern matching routine is available for sequence searching. This list can be refined by successive search commands. Intermediate results can be inspected easily. This provides a highly intuitive user interface for developing complex queries. Save current list of entries to a file.
Similar commands query other indexed fields.
AQL scripts can manipulate current lists to do a variety of operations on a query-defined set of related proteins. The principle of working with a current list and the syntax of AQL are simple and intuitive enough for AQL scripts to be developed by biologists, not just database specialists. AQL scripts can be validated, stored, and then run automatically at regular intervals. Their automated reuse is a scalable method for tackling annotation in the age of genomics. Stored AQL scripts are extensions of the database system because they express and enforce complex rules of biology.