Transcriptome visualization and data availability at the Saccharomyces Genome Database.

The Saccharomyces Genome Database (SGD; www.yeastgenome.org) maintains the official annotation of all genes in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae reference genome and aims to elucidate the function of these genes and their products by integrating manually curated experimental data. Technological advances have allowed researchers to profile RNA expression and identify transcripts at high resolution. These data can be configured in web-based genome browser applications for display to the general public. Accordingly, SGD has incorporated published transcript isoform data in our instance of JBrowse, a genome visualization platform. This resource will help clarify S. cerevisiae biological processes by furthering studies of transcriptional regulation, untranslated regions, genome engineering, and expression quantification in S. cerevisiae.

New developments on the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) data portal.

The Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) is an ongoing collaborative research project aimed at identifying all the functional elements in the human and mouse genomes. Data generated by the ENCODE consortium are freely accessible at the ENCODE portal (https://www.encodeproject.org/), which is developed and maintained by the ENCODE Data Coordinating Center (DCC). Since the initial portal release in 2013, the ENCODE DCC has updated the portal to make ENCODE data more findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. Here, we report on recent updates, including new ENCODE data and assays, ENCODE uniform data processing pipelines, new visualization tools, a dataset cart feature, unrestricted public access to ENCODE data on the cloud (Amazon Web Services open data registry, https://registry.opendata.aws/encode-project/) and more comprehensive tutorials and documentation.

Saccharomyces genome database informs human biology.

The Saccharomyces Genome Database (SGD; http://www.yeastgenome.org) is an expertly curated database of literature-derived functional information for the model organism budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. SGD constantly strives to synergize new types of experimental data and bioinformatics predictions with existing data, and to organize them into a comprehensive and up-to-date information resource. The primary mission of SGD is to facilitate research into the biology of yeast and to provide this wealth of information to advance, in many ways, research on other organisms, even those as evolutionarily distant as humans. To build such a bridge between biological kingdoms, SGD is curating data regarding yeast-human complementation, in which a human gene can successfully replace the function of a yeast gene, and/or vice versa. These data are manually curated from published literature, made available for download, and incorporated into a variety of analysis tools provided by SGD.

The Encyclopedia of DNA elements (ENCODE): data portal update.

The Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) Data Coordinating Center has developed the ENCODE Portal database and website as the source for the data and metadata generated by the ENCODE Consortium. Two principles have motivated the design. First, experimental protocols, analytical procedures and the data themselves should be made publicly accessible through a coherent, web-based search and download interface. Second, the same interface should serve carefully curated metadata that record the provenance of the data and justify its interpretation in biological terms. Since its initial release in 2013 and in response to recommendations from consortium members and the wider community of scientists who use the Portal to access ENCODE data, the Portal has been regularly updated to better reflect these design principles. Here we report on these updates, including results from new experiments, uniformly-processed data from other projects, new visualization tools and more comprehensive metadata to describe experiments and analyses. Additionally, the Portal is now home to meta(data) from related projects including Genomics of Gene Regulation, Roadmap Epigenome Project, Model organism ENCODE (modENCODE) and modERN. The Portal now makes available over 13000 datasets and their accompanying metadata and can be accessed at: https://www.encodeproject.org/.

The Candida Genome Database (CGD): incorporation of Assembly 22, systematic identifiers and visualization of high throughput sequencing data.

The Candida Genome Database (CGD, http://www.candidagenome.org/) is a freely available online resource that provides gene, protein and sequence information for multiple Candida species, along with web-based tools for accessing, analyzing and exploring these data. The mission of CGD is to facilitate and accelerate research into Candida pathogenesis and biology, by curating the scientific literature in real time, and connecting literature-derived annotations to the latest version of the genomic sequence and its annotations. Here, we report the incorporation into CGD of Assembly 22, the first chromosome-level, phased diploid assembly of the C. albicans genome, coupled with improvements that we have made to the assembly using additional available sequence data. We also report the creation of systematic identifiers for C. albicans genes and sequence features using a system similar to that adopted by the yeast community over two decades ago. Finally, we describe the incorporation of JBrowse into CGD, which allows online browsing of mapped high throughput sequencing data, and its implementation for several RNA-Seq data sets, as well as the whole genome sequencing data that was used in the construction of Assembly 22.

The Candida Genome Database: the new homology information page highlights protein similarity and phylogeny.

The Candida Genome Database (CGD, http://www.candidagenome.org/) is a freely available online resource that provides gene, protein and sequence information for multiple Candida species, along with web-based tools for accessing, analyzing and exploring these data. The goal of CGD is to facilitate and accelerate research into Candida pathogenesis and biology. The CGD Web site is organized around Locus pages, which display information collected about individual genes. Locus pages have multiple tabs for accessing different types of information; the default Summary tab provides an overview of the gene name, aliases, phenotype and Gene Ontology curation, whereas other tabs display more in-depth information, including protein product details for coding genes, notes on changes to the sequence or structure of the gene and a comprehensive reference list. Here, in this update to previous NAR Database articles featuring CGD, we describe a new tab that we have added to the Locus page, entitled the Homology Information tab, which displays phylogeny and gene similarity information for each locus.

The Aspergillus Genome Database: multispecies curation and incorporation of RNA-Seq data to improve structural gene annotations.

The Aspergillus Genome Database (AspGD; http://www.aspgd.org) is a freely available web-based resource that was designed for Aspergillus researchers and is also a valuable source of information for the entire fungal research community. In addition to being a repository and central point of access to genome, transcriptome and polymorphism data, AspGD hosts a comprehensive comparative genomics toolbox that facilitates the exploration of precomputed orthologs among the 20 currently available Aspergillus genomes. AspGD curators perform gene product annotation based on review of the literature for four key Aspergillus species: Aspergillus nidulans, Aspergillus oryzae, Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus niger. We have iteratively improved the structural annotation of Aspergillus genomes through the analysis of publicly available transcription data, mostly expressed sequenced tags, as described in a previous NAR Database article (Arnaud et al. 2012). In this update, we report substantive structural annotation improvements for A. nidulans, A. oryzae and A. fumigatus genomes based on recently available RNA-Seq data. Over 26 000 loci were updated across these species; although those primarily comprise the addition and extension of untranslated regions (UTRs), the new analysis also enabled over 1000 modifications affecting the coding sequence of genes in each target genome.

The Candida genome database incorporates multiple Candida species: multispecies search and analysis tools with curated gene and protein information for Candida albicans and Candida glabrata.

The Candida Genome Database (CGD, http://www.candidagenome.org/) is an internet-based resource that provides centralized access to genomic sequence data and manually curated functional information about genes and proteins of the fungal pathogen Candida albicans and other Candida species. As the scope of Candida research, and the number of sequenced strains and related species, has grown in recent years, the need for expanded genomic resources has also grown. To answer this need, CGD has expanded beyond storing data solely for C. albicans, now integrating data from multiple species. Herein we describe the incorporation of this multispecies information, which includes curated gene information and the reference sequence for C. glabrata, as well as orthology relationships that interconnect Locus Summary pages, allowing easy navigation between genes of C. albicans and C. glabrata. These orthology relationships are also used to predict GO annotations of their products. We have also added protein information pages that display domains, structural information and physicochemical properties; bibliographic pages highlighting important topic areas in Candida biology; and a laboratory strain lineage page that describes the lineage of commonly used laboratory strains. All of these data are freely available at http://www.candidagenome.org/. We welcome feedback from the research community at candida-curator@lists.stanford.edu.

The Aspergillus Genome Database (AspGD): recent developments in comprehensive multispecies curation, comparative genomics and community resources.

The Aspergillus Genome Database (AspGD; http://www.aspgd.org) is a freely available, web-based resource for researchers studying fungi of the genus Aspergillus, which includes organisms of clinical, agricultural and industrial importance. AspGD curators have now completed comprehensive review of the entire published literature about Aspergillus nidulans and Aspergillus fumigatus, and this annotation is provided with streamlined, ortholog-based navigation of the multispecies information. AspGD facilitates comparative genomics by providing a full-featured genomics viewer, as well as matched and standardized sets of genomic information for the sequenced aspergilli. AspGD also provides resources to foster interaction and dissemination of community information and resources. We welcome and encourage feedback at aspergillus-curator@lists.stanford.edu.

Saccharomyces Genome Database: the genomics resource of budding yeast.

The Saccharomyces Genome Database (SGD, http://www.yeastgenome.org) is the community resource for the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The SGD project provides the highest-quality manually curated information from peer-reviewed literature. The experimental results reported in the literature are extracted and integrated within a well-developed database. These data are combined with quality high-throughput results and provided through Locus Summary pages, a powerful query engine and rich genome browser. The acquisition, integration and retrieval of these data allow SGD to facilitate experimental design and analysis by providing an encyclopedia of the yeast genome, its chromosomal features, their functions and interactions. Public access to these data is provided to researchers and educators via web pages designed for optimal ease of use.

Saccharomyces genome database update: server architecture, pan-genome nomenclature, and external resources.

As one of the first model organism knowledgebases, Saccharomyces Genome Database (SGD) has been supporting the scientific research community since 1993. As technologies and research evolve, so does SGD: from updates in software architecture, to curation of novel data types, to incorporation of data from, and collaboration with, other knowledgebases. We are continuing to make steps toward providing the community with an S. cerevisiae pan-genome. Here, we describe software upgrades, a new nomenclature system for genes not found in the reference strain, and additions to gene pages. With these improvements, we aim to remain a leading resource for students, researchers, and the broader scientific community.

The ENCODE Uniform Analysis Pipelines.

The Encyclopedia of DNA elements (ENCODE) project is a collaborative effort to create a comprehensive catalog of functional elements in the human genome. The current database comprises more than 19000 functional genomics experiments across more than 1000 cell lines and tissues using a wide array of experimental techniques to study the chromatin structure, regulatory and transcriptional landscape of the Homo sapiens and Mus musculus genomes. All experimental data, metadata, and associated computational analyses created by the ENCODE consortium are submitted to the Data Coordination Center (DCC) for validation, tracking, storage, and distribution to community resources and the scientific community. The ENCODE project has engineered and distributed uniform processing pipelines in order to promote data provenance and reproducibility as well as allow interoperability between genomic resources and other consortia. All data files, reference genome versions, software versions, and parameters used by the pipelines are captured and available via the ENCODE Portal. The pipeline code, developed using Docker and Workflow Description Language (WDL; https://openwdl.org/) is publicly available in GitHub, with images available on Dockerhub (https://hub.docker.com), enabling access to a diverse range of biomedical researchers. ENCODE pipelines maintained and used by the DCC can be installed to run on personal computers, local HPC clusters, or in cloud computing environments via Cromwell. Access to the pipelines and data via the cloud allows small labs the ability to use the data or software without access to institutional compute clusters. Standardization of the computational methodologies for analysis and quality control leads to comparable results from different ENCODE collections - a prerequisite for successful integrative analyses.

The ENCODE Uniform Analysis Pipelines.

The Encyclopedia of DNA elements (ENCODE) project is a collaborative effort to create a comprehensive catalog of functional elements in the human genome. The current database comprises more than 19000 functional genomics experiments across more than 1000 cell lines and tissues using a wide array of experimental techniques to study the chromatin structure, regulatory and transcriptional landscape of the Homo sapiens and Mus musculus genomes. All experimental data, metadata, and associated computational analyses created by the ENCODE consortium are submitted to the Data Coordination Center (DCC) for validation, tracking, storage, and distribution to community resources and the scientific community. The ENCODE project has engineered and distributed uniform processing pipelines in order to promote data provenance and reproducibility as well as allow interoperability between genomic resources and other consortia. All data files, reference genome versions, software versions, and parameters used by the pipelines are captured and available via the ENCODE Portal. The pipeline code, developed using Docker and Workflow Description Language (WDL; https://openwdl.org/) is publicly available in GitHub, with images available on Dockerhub (https://hub.docker.com), enabling access to a diverse range of biomedical researchers. ENCODE pipelines maintained and used by the DCC can be installed to run on personal computers, local HPC clusters, or in cloud computing environments via Cromwell. Access to the pipelines and data via the cloud allows small labs the ability to use the data or software without access to institutional compute clusters. Standardization of the computational methodologies for analysis and quality control leads to comparable results from different ENCODE collections - a prerequisite for successful integrative analyses.

New tools at the Candida Genome Database: biochemical pathways and full-text literature search.

The Candida Genome Database (CGD, http://www.candidagenome.org/) provides online access to genomic sequence data and manually curated functional information about genes and proteins of the human pathogen Candida albicans. Herein, we describe two recently added features, Candida Biochemical Pathways and the Textpresso full-text literature search tool. The Biochemical Pathways tool provides visualization of metabolic pathways and analysis tools that facilitate interpretation of experimental data, including results of large-scale experiments, in the context of Candida metabolism. Textpresso for Candida allows searching through the full-text of Candida-specific literature, including clinical and epidemiological studies.

The Aspergillus Genome Database, a curated comparative genomics resource for gene, protein and sequence information for the Aspergillus research community.

The Aspergillus Genome Database (AspGD) is an online genomics resource for researchers studying the genetics and molecular biology of the Aspergilli. AspGD combines high-quality manual curation of the experimental scientific literature examining the genetics and molecular biology of Aspergilli, cutting-edge comparative genomics approaches to iteratively refine and improve structural gene annotations across multiple Aspergillus species, and web-based research tools for accessing and exploring the data. All of these data are freely available at http://www.aspgd.org. We welcome feedback from users and the research community at aspergillus-curator@genome.stanford.edu.

Saccharomyces Genome Database provides mutant phenotype data.

The Saccharomyces Genome Database (SGD; http://www.yeastgenome.org) is a scientific database for the molecular biology and genetics of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is commonly known as baker's or budding yeast. The information in SGD includes functional annotations, mapping and sequence information, protein domains and structure, expression data, mutant phenotypes, physical and genetic interactions and the primary literature from which these data are derived. Here we describe how published phenotypes and genetic interaction data are annotated and displayed in SGD.

New data and collaborations at the Saccharomyces Genome Database: updated reference genome, alleles, and the Alliance of Genome Resources.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is used to provide fundamental understanding of eukaryotic genetics, gene product function, and cellular biological processes. Saccharomyces Genome Database (SGD) has been supporting the yeast research community since 1993, serving as its de facto hub. Over the years, SGD has maintained the genetic nomenclature, chromosome maps, and functional annotation, and developed various tools and methods for analysis and curation of a variety of emerging data types. More recently, SGD and six other model organism focused knowledgebases have come together to create the Alliance of Genome Resources to develop sustainable genome information resources that promote and support the use of various model organisms to understand the genetic and genomic bases of human biology and disease. Here we describe recent activities at SGD, including the latest reference genome annotation update, the development of a curation system for mutant alleles, and new pages addressing homology across model organisms as well as the use of yeast to study human disease.

Gene Ontology annotations at SGD: new data sources and annotation methods.

The Saccharomyces Genome Database (SGD; http://www.yeastgenome.org/) collects and organizes biological information about the chromosomal features and gene products of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Although published data from traditional experimental methods are the primary sources of evidence supporting Gene Ontology (GO) annotations for a gene product, high-throughput experiments and computational predictions can also provide valuable insights in the absence of an extensive body of literature. Therefore, GO annotations available at SGD now include high-throughput data as well as computational predictions provided by the GO Annotation Project (GOA UniProt; http://www.ebi.ac.uk/GOA/). Because the annotation method used to assign GO annotations varies by data source, GO resources at SGD have been modified to distinguish data sources and annotation methods. In addition to providing information for genes that have not been experimentally characterized, GO annotations from independent sources can be compared to those made by SGD to help keep the literature-based GO annotations current.

Sequence resources at the Candida Genome Database.

The Candida Genome Database (CGD, http://www.candidagenome.org/) contains a curated collection of genomic information and community resources for researchers who are interested in the molecular biology of the opportunistic pathogen Candida albicans. With the recent release of a new assembly of the C.albicans genome, Assembly 20, C.albicans genomics has entered a new era. Although the C.albicans genome assembly continues to undergo refinement, multiple assemblies and gene nomenclatures will remain in widespread use by the research community. CGD has now taken on the responsibility of maintaining the most up-to-date version of the genome sequence by providing the data from this new assembly alongside the data from the previous assemblies, as well as any future corrections and refinements. In this database update, we describe the sequence information available for C.albicans, the sequence information contained in CGD, and the tools for sequence retrieval, analysis and comparison that CGD provides. CGD is freely accessible at http://www.candidagenome.org/ and CGD curators may be contacted by email at candida-curator@genome.stanford.edu.

Expanded protein information at SGD: new pages and proteome browser.

The recent explosion in protein data generated from both directed small-scale studies and large-scale proteomics efforts has greatly expanded the quantity of available protein information and has prompted the Saccharomyces Genome Database (SGD; http://www.yeastgenome.org/) to enhance the depth and accessibility of protein annotations. In particular, we have expanded ongoing efforts to improve the integration of experimental information and sequence-based predictions and have redesigned the protein information web pages. A key feature of this redesign is the development of a GBrowse-derived interactive Proteome Browser customized to improve the visualization of sequence-based protein information. This Proteome Browser has enabled SGD to unify the display of hidden Markov model (HMM) domains, protein family HMMs, motifs, transmembrane regions, signal peptides, hydropathy plots and profile hits using several popular prediction algorithms. In addition, a physico-chemical properties page has been introduced to provide easy access to basic protein information. Improvements to the layout of the Protein Information page and integration of the Proteome Browser will facilitate the ongoing expansion of sequence-specific experimental information captured in SGD, including post-translational modifications and other user-defined annotations. Finally, SGD continues to improve upon the availability of genetic and physical interaction data in an ongoing collaboration with BioGRID by providing direct access to more than 82,000 manually-curated interactions.