gymnotoa-db: a database and application to optimize functional annotation in gymnosperms

Gymnosperms are a clade of non-flowering plants that include about 1000 living species. Due to their complex genomes and lack of genomic resources, functional annotation in genomics and transcriptomics on gymnosperms suffers from limitations. Here we present gymnotoa-db, which is a novel, publicly accessible relational database designed to facilitate functional annotation in gymnosperms. This database stores non-redundant records of gymnosperm proteins, encompassing taxonomic and functional information. The complementary software, gymnotoa-app, enables users to download gymnotoa-db and execute a comprehensive functional annotation pipeline for high-throughput sequencing-derived DNA or cDNA sequences. gymnotoa-app's user-friendly interface and efficient algorithms streamline the functional annotation process, making it an invaluable tool for researchers studying gymnosperms. We compared gymnotoa-app's performance against other annotation tools utilizing disparate reference databases. Our results demonstrate gymnotoa-app's superior ability to accurately annotate gymnosperm transcripts, recovering a greater number of transcripts and unique, non-redundant Gene Ontology terms. gymnotoa-db's distinctive features include comprehensive coverage with a non-redundant dataset of gymnosperm protein sequences, robust functional information that integrates data from multiple ontology systems, including GO, KEGG, EC, and MetaCYC, while keeping the taxonomic context, including Arabidopsis homologs. Database URL: https://blogs.upm.es/gymnotoa-db/2024/09/19/gymnotoa-app/.