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An Integrated Approach for Microprotein Identification and Sequence Analysis
Published on: July 12, 2022
Pathema: a clade-specific bioinformatics resource center for pathogen research
Lauren M Brinkac1, Tanja Davidsen, Erin Beck
1J Craig Venter Institute, Rockville, MD 20850, USA.
Pathema provides a vital resource for bio-defense and infectious disease research, offering integrated genomic data and analysis tools for NIAID Category A-C pathogens. This platform accelerates scientific understanding and discovery for these critical organisms.
Area of Science:
- Bioinformatics
- Infectious Disease Research
- Genomics
Background:
- The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) funds Bioinformatics Resource Centers (BRCs) to support research communities.
- Pathema is one of eight BRCs, focusing on bio-defense and infectious diseases.
Purpose of the Study:
- To serve as a core resource for researchers studying specific NIAID Category A-C pathogens.
- To accelerate scientific progress in understanding, detecting, diagnosing, and treating infectious diseases.
- To provide integrated genomic data and analysis tools for pathogen research.
Main Methods:
- Development of four distinct clade-specific web resources and databases for target pathogens.
- Inclusion of publicly available complete genome projects of phylogenetically related organisms for comparative analysis.
- Integration of web-based analysis tools for data exploration and result computation.
Main Results:
- Pathema offers comprehensive genomic data for six NIAID Category A-C pathogens: Bacillus anthracis, Clostridium botulinum, Burkholderia mallei, Burkholderia pseudomallei, Clostridium perfringens, and Entamoeba histolytica.
- The platform provides access to phylogenetically related organisms for extensive comparative genomics.
- Integrated analysis tools facilitate customized data retrieval, visualization, and computation.
Conclusions:
- Pathema effectively disseminates pathogen genome sequencing data and comparative analysis results.
- The resource supports the bio-defense and infectious disease research community by providing essential data and analytical capabilities.
- Pathema accelerates scientific discovery and progress in the field of pathogen genomics.
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