FASTAformatted

FASTA format is a simple text-based format commonly used to represent nucleotide or protein sequences in bioinformatics. Developed in the 1980s, it provides a straightforward way to store and share sequence data while including descriptive metadata. The format is widely adopted due to its simplicity and compatibility with various bioinformatics tools and databases.

In FASTA format, each sequence entry begins with a single-line description, starting with a greater-than symbol (">"). This line typically includes an identifier for the sequence, such as a name or accession number, followed by optional annotations like species, organism, or other relevant details. Subsequent lines represent the sequence itself, with each line containing up to 80 characters (though modern implementations often allow longer lines). The sequence is written in uppercase letters using the standard single-letter amino acid or nucleotide codes.

For example, a FASTA-formatted protein sequence might look like this:

>SP|P00564|CYTB_HUMAN Cytochrome b5, mitochondrial OS=Homo sapiens OX=9606 GN=CYB5A PE=1 SV=2

MGLLRLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPLQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ