ClusterMine360: a database of microbial PKS/NRPS biosynthesis

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Bioinformatics
• Genomics

Background:

• Microbial natural products, including polyketides and non-ribosomal peptides, are crucial for drug discovery.
• The rapid increase in sequenced microbial genomes necessitates efficient tools for identifying and analyzing gene clusters responsible for these compounds.
• Existing resources may not adequately capture the growing volume and complexity of this data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce ClusterMine360, a novel database for microbial polyketide and non-ribosomal peptide gene clusters.
• To provide a centralized, high-quality resource for researchers in the field.
• To facilitate the mining of functional information from these gene clusters.

Main Methods:

• Development of a database integrating crowd-sourced contributions with automated quality control.
• Curation of gene cluster data from microbial sources.
• Creation of a comprehensive sequence repository for relevant enzyme domains.
• Implementation of filtering and downloading functionalities for sequence data.

Main Results:

• The database contains over 200 microbial gene clusters from more than 185 compound families.
• A unique sequence repository includes over 10,000 polyketide synthase/non-ribosomal peptide synthetase domains.
• Sequences are filterable and downloadable in FASTA format.

Conclusions:

• ClusterMine360 serves as a valuable and up-to-date resource for the polyketide synthases/non-ribosomal peptide synthetases research community.
• The database empowers researchers to efficiently access and analyze gene cluster information.
• It supports ongoing efforts in natural product discovery and functional genomics.