Enteropathogen Resource Integration Center (ERIC): bioinformatics support for research on biodefense-relevant enterobacteria.

ERIC, the Enteropathogen Resource Integration Center (www.ericbrc.org), is a new web portal serving as a rich source of information about enterobacteria on the NIAID established list of Select Agents related to biodefense-diarrheagenic Escherichia coli, Shigella spp., Salmonella spp., Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pestis. More than 30 genomes have been completely sequenced, many more exist in draft form and additional projects are underway. These organisms are increasingly the focus of studies using high-throughput experimental technologies and computational approaches. This wealth of data provides unprecedented opportunities for understanding the workings of basic biological systems and discovery of novel targets for development of vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics. ERIC brings information together from disparate sources and supports data comparison across different organisms, analysis of varying data types and visualization of analyses in human and computer-readable formats.

A new asset for pathogen informatics--the Enteropathogen Resource Integration Center (ERIC), an NIAID Bioinformatics Resource Center for Biodefense and Emerging/Re-emerging Infectious Disease.

ERIC (Enteropathogen Resource Information Center) is one of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Bioinformatics Resource Centers for Biodefense and Emerging/Re-emerging Infectious Disease. ERIC serves as a comprehensive information resource for five related pathogens: Yersinia enterocolitica, Yersinia pestis, diarrheagenic E. coli, Shigella spp., and Salmonella spp. ERIC integrates genomics, proteomics, biochemical and microbiological information to facilitate the interpretation and understanding of ERIC pathogens and select related non-pathogens for the advancement of diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines. ERIC (www.ericbrc.org) is evolving to provide state-of-the-art analysis tools and data types, such as genome sequencing, comparative genomics, genome polymorphisms, gene expression, proteomics, and pathways as well as expertly curated community genome annotation. Genome sequence and genome annotation data and a variety of analysis and tools for eight strains of Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pestis pathogens (Yersinia pestis biovars Mediaevalis KIM, Mediaevalis 91001, Orientalis CO92, Orientalis IP275, Antiqua Angola, Antiqua Antiqua, Antiqua Nepal516, and Yersinia enterocolitica 8081) and two strains of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis (Yersinia pseudotuberculosis IP32953 and IP31758) are currently available through the ERIC portal. ERIC seeks to maintain a strong collaboration with the scientific community so that we can continue to identify and incorporate the latest research data, tools, and training to best meet the current and future needs of the enteropathogen research community. All tools and data developed under this NIAID contract will be freely available. Please contact info@ericbrc.org for more information.