Parasite genome databases and web-based resources

Abstract

In the last decade, high-throughput genome sequencing and complementary techniques such as microarray and proteomics have generated, and will continue to generate, ever-increasing amounts of data. These technologies of gene discovery, expression, and functional analysis have been applied to a vast array of organisms, including parasites. In most instances, the data are freely available via the Internet, and researchers are becoming increasingly reliant on up-to-date, centralized data repositories to complement wet bench science. This chapter presents an overview of resources relevant to researchers with an interest in para-site genomics and biology. After briefly touching on some of the publicly available nucleotide and protein sequence as well as domain databases, the focus turns to parasite genome projects and associated Web-based resources. A list of parasite sequencing projects current at the time of writing, including relevant Web site addresses, is provided. The available resources range from network sites and project pages at sequencing institutes to databases that integrate and curate sequence data and associated annotation with diverse biological datasets. Particular attention is given to three databases, GeneDB (http://www.genedb.org/), PlasmoDB (http://plasmodb. org/), and tigr db, detailing the scope of each database and the tools available for data querying and retrieval.