SeagrassDB: An open-source transcriptomics landscape for phylogenetically profiled seagrasses and aquatic plants

Area of Science:

• Marine Biology
• Plant Science
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Seagrasses and aquatic plants are vital for marine ecosystems, aiding carbon sequestration and ecological restoration.
• Understanding their adaptations to high salinity and low light is crucial for marine science.
• Existing genomic resources for these species are limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish a comprehensive, phylogenetically profiled transcriptomics repository for seagrasses and aquatic plants.
• To facilitate comparative gene mining and functional analysis within these plant clades.
• To support research in marine ecological restoration and plant adaptation.

Main Methods:

• Development of SeagrassDB, a large-scale transcriptomics repository.
• Inclusion of over 1 million unigenes from 9 aquatic plant species.
• Annotation of unigenes with transcription factors, PFAM, Prosite, and InterPro domains.

Main Results:

• SeagrassDB contains 1,052,262 unigenes with detailed functional annotations.
• The repository provides access to 34,455 transcription factors and millions of protein domains.
• Comparative gene mining and sequence retrieval with associated features are enabled via BLAST.

Conclusions:

• SeagrassDB serves as a valuable resource for the scientific community.
• It enables exploration of the functional genic landscape of seagrasses and aquatic plants.
• The repository will advance research on plant adaptation and marine ecological restoration.