Deductive biocomputing.

Background: As biologists increasingly rely upon computational tools, it is imperative that they be able to appropriately apply these tools and clearly understand the methods the tools employ. Such tools must have access to all the relevant data and knowledge and, in some sense, "understand" biology so that they can serve biologists' goals appropriately and "explain" in biological terms how results are computed.

Methodology/principal Findings: We describe a deduction-based approach to biocomputation that semiautomatically combines knowledge, software, and data to satisfy goals expressed in a high-level biological language.