Micro-Mar: a database for dynamic representation of marine microbial biodiversity

Ravindra Pushker,Giuseppe D'Auria,Francisco Rodríguez-Valera,Jose Carlos Alba-Casado

doi:10.1186/1471-2105-6-222

Ravindra Pushker, Giuseppe D'Auria + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2105-6-222

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Journal: BMC Bioinformatics	Publication Date: Sep 9, 2005
Citations: 11	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: Miguel Hernandez University

Abstract

BackgroundThe cataloging of marine prokaryotic DNA sequences is a fundamental aspect for bioprospecting and also for the development of evolutionary and speciation models. However, large amount of DNA sequences used to quantify prokaryotic biodiversity requires proper tools for storing, managing and analyzing these data for research purposes.DescriptionThe Micro-Mar database has been created to collect DNA diversity information from marine prokaryotes for biogeographical and ecological analyses. The database currently includes 11874 sequences corresponding to high resolution taxonomic genes (16S rRNA, ITS and 23S rRNA) and many other genes including CDS of marine prokaryotes together with available biogeographical and ecological information.ConclusionThe database aims to integrate molecular data and taxonomic affiliation with biogeographical and ecological features that will allow to have a dynamic representation of the marine microbial diversity embedded in a user friendly web interface. It is available online at .

Highlights

The cataloging of marine prokaryotic DNA sequences is a fundamental aspect for bioprospecting and for the development of evolutionary and speciation models
The database currently includes 11874 sequences corresponding to high resolution taxonomic genes (16S rRNA, ITS and 23S rRNA) and many other genes including CDS of marine prokaryotes together with available biogeographical and ecological information
The database aims to integrate molecular data and taxonomic affiliation with biogeographical and ecological features that will allow to have a dynamic representation of the marine microbial diversity embedded in a user friendly web interface

Summary

Conclusion

The creation of Micro-Mar database is an initiative towards cataloging all the information related to marine prokaryotes collected during the lasts two decades and providing an interface that will help the scientific community to do comparative analyses of marine prokaryotes sequences and make it amenable for biogeographical and ecological analyses. The database is updated every week to include the most recent marine prokaryotic sequences. In order to achieve this, it is encouraged that scientists include more information about biogeographical and ecological parameters while submitting their sequences to various public databases. FRV conceived the study and the general design of MicroMar. RP and GD drafted the manuscript. All the informatics applications were designed and developed by RP.

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