DSMZCellDive: Diving into high-throughput cell line data

Area of Science:

• Cell biology
• Genomics
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Reproducible scientific data relies on authenticated, contaminant-free cell lines.
• Cell line information is often dispersed across various sources, hindering comparative analysis.
• Official biorepositories are crucial for providing reliable cell line resources.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce DSMZCellDive, a comprehensive web portal for accessing human and animal cell line data.
• To facilitate research by providing a centralized, searchable database of cell line information.
• To support the scientific community by ensuring the reliability and accessibility of model system data.

Main Methods:

• Development of a web portal (celldive.dsmz.de) to aggregate cell line data.
• Generation of diverse data types including RNA-seq transcriptome data and Short Tandem Repeat (STR) profiles.
• Implementation of multiple access points including browsing, searching, and visualization functionalities.

Main Results:

• DSMZCellDive provides free access to a comprehensive data source on human and animal cell lines.
• The portal integrates various data types, such as RNA-seq and STR profiles (17 loci).
• Demonstrated utility through examples like B-cell differentiation marker analysis and heterozygosity loss measurement.

Conclusions:

• DSMZCellDive enhances the selection of appropriate model cell lines, ensuring data reliability.
• The portal avoids misleading data and reduces the need for redundant experiments.
• It serves as a valuable reference for genomic and gene expression data, benefiting the scientific community.