QuartetS-DB: a large-scale orthology database for prokaryotes and eukaryotes inferred by evolutionary evidence

Area of Science:

• Genomics
• Bioinformatics
• Evolutionary Biology

Background:

• Orthology is crucial for understanding gene evolution across species via comparative genomics.
• The QuartetS algorithm enhances orthology detection accuracy and computational efficiency.
• Gene duplication events are key to distinguishing orthologous from paralogous genes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce QuartetS-DB, a novel orthology database.
• To provide comprehensive orthology predictions for a large set of genomes.
• To offer a user-adjustable parameter for balancing prediction accuracy and coverage.

Main Methods:

• Construction of QuartetS-DB using the QuartetS algorithm.
• Inclusion of 1621 complete genomes (bacterial, archaeal, eukaryotic).
• Prediction of over 4 million pairwise orthologs, 300,000 orthologous groups, and 500,000 inparalog groups.

Main Results:

• QuartetS-DB contains predictions for over 7 million proteins.
• The database offers a flexible cutoff for modulating ortholog prediction accuracy and coverage.
• It provides a substantial resource of orthologous groups and gene trees.

Conclusions:

• QuartetS-DB is a leading orthology resource due to its size and evolutionary basis.
• Accuracy is expected to improve with future genome sequencing efforts.
• The database facilitates evolutionary relationship studies through comprehensive orthology data.