TranscriptDB: a transcript-centric database to study eukaryotic transcript conservation and evolution

Eukaryotic genes can encode multiple distinct transcripts through the alternative splicing (AS) of genes. Interest in the AS mechanism and its evolution across different species has stimulated numerous studies, leading to several databases that provide information on AS and transcriptome data across multiple eukaryotic species. However, existing resources do not offer information on transcript conservation and evolution between genes of multiple species. Similarly to genes, identifying conserved transcripts-those from homologous genes that have retained a similar exon composition-is useful for determining transcript homology relationships, studying transcript functions and reconstructing transcript phylogenies. To address this gap, we have developed TranscriptDB, a database dedicated to studying the conservation and evolution of transcripts within gene families. TranscriptDB offers an extensive catalog of conserved transcripts and phylogenies for 317 annotated eukaryotic species, sourced from Ensembl database version 111. It serves multiple purposes, including the exploration of gene and transcript evolution. Users can access TranscriptDB through various browsing and querying tools, including a user-friendly web interface. The incorporated web servers enable users to retrieve information on transcript evolution using their own data as input. Additionally, a REST application programming interface is available for programmatic data retrieval. A data directory is also available for bulk downloads. TranscriptDB and its resources are freely accessible at https://transcriptdb.cobius.usherbrooke.ca.