Docker技术在生物信息学中的应用

Application of Docker technology in bioinformatics

随着高通量测序、蛋白质组学等生物技术的迅猛发展,生物医学数据、生物信息学工具及分析应用需求均呈现出多样性和复杂性的特点。传统的生物信息计算环境如专用工作站、虚拟机等已无法较好地适应这一情况。Docker作为一种新兴的容器技术,具有轻量、开放和安全的优点,为分析和处理生物大数据提供了一种新的解决方案,得到生物信息学开发和应用人员越来越多的关注与使用。该文针对大数据时代下生物信息学工具开发、部署、应用的要求和特点,分析Docker技术在生物信息学中应用的优势,介绍了该技术在生物信息学中的具体应用案例,探讨其有待改进的方面以及未来发展趋势。

With the rapid development of biotechnology such as NGS and proteomics,bioinformatics has seen an explosion in diversity and complexity in terms of data,tools and demands. The traditional computing environment,including dedicated workstations and virtual machines,are no longer suitable under such circumstances. As a rising container technology,Docker,which is characterized by light weight,openness and security,has provided an innovative solution to analysis and processing of biological big data and attracted increasing attention from bioinformatics developers and users. Considering the demands and features of development,deployment and application of bioinformatics tools in the age of big data,this paper analyzes the advantages of Docker in this field,introduces some actual cases and discusses current deficiencies and future improvement.