Development of an Ocean Protein Portal for Interactive Discovery and Education.

Proteins are critical in catalyzing chemical reactions, forming key cellular structures, and in regulating cellular processes. Investigation of marine microbial proteins by metaproteomics methods enables the discovery of numerous aspects of microbial biogeochemical processes. However, these datasets present big data challenges as they often involve many samples collected across broad geospatial and temporal scales, resulting in thousands of protein identifications, abundances, and corresponding annotation information. The Ocean Protein Portal (OPP) was created to enable data sharing and discovery among multiple scientific domains and serve both research and education functions. The portal focuses on three use case questions: "Where is my protein of interest?", "Who makes it?", and "How much is there?" and provides profile and section visualizations, real-time taxonomic analysis, and links to metadata, sequence analysis, and other external resources to enable connections to be made between biogeochemical and proteomics datasets.

Sequence evolution and sex-specific expression patterns of the C class floral identity gene, SpAGAMOUS, in dioecious Spinacia oleracea L.

Development in dioecious cultivated spinach, Spinacia oleracea, is distinguished by the absence of alternative reproductive organ primordia in male and female flowers. Given the highly derived floral developmental program in spinach, we wished to characterize a spinach C class floral identity gene and to determine the patterns of sequence evolution as well as compare the spatial and temporal expression patterns with those of AGAMOUS. The isolated cDNA sequence clusters phylogenetically within the AGAMOUS/FARINELLI C class clade. In comparison with the SLM1 sequence from the related Silene latifolia, amino acid replacements are highly conservative and non-randomly distributed, being predominantly found in hinge regions or on exposed surfaces of helices. The spinach gene (SpAGAMOUS) appears to be exclusively expressed in reproductive tissues and not in vegetative organs. Initial expression of SpAGAMOUS is similar in male and female floral primordia. However, upon initiation of the first whorl organs, SpAGAMOUS becomes restricted to meristemic regions from which the reproductive primordia will develop. This results in an early gender-specific pattern. Thus, the spinach C class gene is differentially expressed prior to reproductive organ development and is, at least, correlated with, if not directly involved in, the sexual dimorphism in spinach.