An Examination of the Discrepancies Between Three Genome Annotations of Halorhabdus utahensis

The field of genomics holds incredible potential, and it is imperative that students are exposed to the opportunities that the field offers to prepare the future generations of scientists and leaders. However, as a discipline that continues to develop, genomics still provides many issues that must be addressed, particularly with regards to the computerized and automated tools used to analyze entire genomes. In this study, we address both of these issues in as a class of undergraduate students analyzes the accuracy and reliability of three automatic annotation engines via the annotation of Halorhabdus utahensis, a halophilic archaeon. We conclude that the many discrepancies between the databases must be remedied by universal standardization of annotation software, in addition to continuing to improve the automated tools, and that multiple annotations of a genome should be compared to provide the most accurate analysis.