Hideaki Sugawara

Publications of Hideaki Sugawara

• Intrinsically disordered regions have specific functions in mitochondrial and nuclear proteins.

  Authors: Keiichi Homma, Satoshi Fukuchi, Ken Nishikawa, Shigetaka Sakamoto, Hideaki Sugawara

  Molecular bioSystems. 08/2011; 8(1):247-55.

  Proteins in general consist not only of globular structural domains (SDs), but also of intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs), i.e. those that do not assume unique three-dimensional structures byProteins in general consist not only of globular structural domains (SDs), but also of intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs), i.e. those that do not assume unique three-dimensional structures by themselves. Although IDRs are especially prevalent in eukaryotic proteins, the functions are mostly unknown. To elucidate the functions of IDRs, we first divided eukaryotic proteins into subcellular localizations, identified IDRs by the DICHOT system that accurately divides entire proteins into SDs and IDRs, and examined charge and hydropathy characteristics. On average, mitochondrial proteins have IDRs more positively charged than SDs. Comparison of mitochondrial proteins with orthologous prokaryotic proteins showed that mitochondrial proteins tend to have segments attached at both N and C termini, high fractions of which are IDRs. Segments added to the N-terminus of mitochondrial proteins contain not only signal sequences but also mature proteins and exhibit a positive charge gradient, with the magnitude increasing toward the N-terminus. This finding is consistent with the notion that positively charged residues are added to the N-terminus of proteobacterial proteins so that the extended proteins can be chromosomally encoded and efficiently transported to mitochondria after translation. By contrast, nuclear proteins generally have positively charged SDs and negatively charged IDRs. Among nuclear proteins, DNA-binding proteins have enhanced charge tendencies. We propose that SDs in nuclear proteins tend to be positively charged because of the need to bind to negatively charged nucleotides, while IDRs tend to be negatively charged to interact with other proteins or other regions of the same proteins to avoid premature proteasomal degradation.

• The 2nd DBCLS BioHackathon: interoperable bioinformatics Web services for integrated applications.

  Authors: Toshiaki Katayama, Mark D Wilkinson, Rutger Vos, Takeshi Kawashima, Shuichi Kawashima, Mitsuteru Nakao, Yasunori Yamamoto, Hong-Woo Chun, Atsuko Yamaguchi, Shin Kawano [......] Martin Senger, Jessica Severin, Yasumasa Shigemoto, Hideaki Sugawara, James Taylor, Oswaldo Trelles, Chisato Yamasaki, Riu Yamashita, Noriyuki Satoh, Toshihisa Takagi

  Journal of biomedical semantics. 08/2011; 2:4.

  ABSTRACT: The interaction between biological researchers and the bioinformatics tools they use is still hampered by incomplete interoperability between such tools. To ensure interoperabilityABSTRACT: The interaction between biological researchers and the bioinformatics tools they use is still hampered by incomplete interoperability between such tools. To ensure interoperability initiatives are effectively deployed, end-user applications need to be aware of, and support, best practices and standards. Here, we report on an initiative in which software developers and genome biologists came together to explore and raise awareness of these issues: BioHackathon 2009. Developers in attendance came from diverse backgrounds, with experts in Web services, workflow tools, text mining and visualization. Genome biologists provided expertise and exemplar data from the domains of sequence and pathway analysis and glyco-informatics. One goal of the meeting was to evaluate the ability to address real world use cases in these domains using the tools that the developers represented. This resulted in i) a workflow to annotate 100,000 sequences from an invertebrate species; ii) an integrated system for analysis of the transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) enriched based on differential gene expression data obtained from a microarray experiment; iii) a workflow to enumerate putative physical protein interactions among enzymes in a metabolic pathway using protein structure data; iv) a workflow to analyze glyco-gene-related diseases by searching for human homologs of glyco-genes in other species, such as fruit flies, and retrieving their phenotype-annotated SNPs. Beyond deriving prototype solutions for each use-case, a second major purpose of the BioHackathon was to highlight areas of insufficiency. We discuss the issues raised by our exploration of the problem/solution space, concluding that there are still problems with the way Web services are modeled and annotated, including: i) the absence of several useful data or analysis functions in the Web service "space"; ii) the lack of documentation of methods; iii) lack of compliance with the SOAP/WSDL specification among and between various programming-language libraries; and iv) incompatibility between various bioinformatics data formats. Although it was still difficult to solve real world problems posed to the developers by the biological researchers in attendance because of these problems, we note the promise of addressing these issues within a semantic framework.

• Associated Disease Frequency-based Measure for Finding Candidate Target Genes from the Biomedical Literature.

  Authors: Yeondae Kwon, Hideaki Sugawara, Shogo Shimizu, Satoru Miyazaki

  International Conference on Complex, Intelligent and Software Intensive Systems, CISIS 2011, June 30 - July 2, 2011, Korean Bible University, Seoul, Korea; 01/2011

• DDBJ progress report.

  Authors: Eli Kaminuma, Takehide Kosuge, Yuichi Kodama, Hideo Aono, Jun Mashima, Takashi Gojobori, Hideaki Sugawara, Osamu Ogasawara, Toshihisa Takagi, Kousaku Okubo, Yasukazu Nakamura

  Nucleic acids research. 11/2010; 39(Database issue):D22-7.

  The DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ, http://www.ddbj.nig.ac.jp) provides a nucleotide sequence archive database and accompanying database tools for sequence submission, entry retrieval and annotationThe DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ, http://www.ddbj.nig.ac.jp) provides a nucleotide sequence archive database and accompanying database tools for sequence submission, entry retrieval and annotation analysis. The DDBJ collected and released 3,637,446 entries/2,272,231,889 bases between July 2009 and June 2010. A highlight of the released data was archive datasets from next-generation sequencing reads of Japanese rice cultivar, Koshihikari submitted by the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences. In this period, we started a new archive for quantitative genomics data, the DDBJ Omics aRchive (DOR). The DOR stores quantitative data both from the microarray and high-throughput new sequencing platforms. Moreover, we improved the content of the DDBJ patent sequence, released a new submission tool of the DDBJ Sequence Read Archive (DRA) which archives massive raw sequencing reads, and enhanced a cloud computing-based analytical system from sequencing reads, the DDBJ Read Annotation Pipeline. In this article, we describe these new functions of the DDBJ databases and support tools.

• The sequence read archive.

  Authors: Rasko Leinonen, Hideaki Sugawara, Martin Shumway

  Nucleic acids research. 11/2010; 39(Database issue):D19-21.

  The combination of significantly lower cost and increased speed of sequencing has resulted in an explosive growth of data submitted into the primary next-generation sequence data archive, theThe combination of significantly lower cost and increased speed of sequencing has resulted in an explosive growth of data submitted into the primary next-generation sequence data archive, the Sequence Read Archive (SRA). The preservation of experimental data is an important part of the scientific record, and increasing numbers of journals and funding agencies require that next-generation sequence data are deposited into the SRA. The SRA was established as a public repository for the next-generation sequence data and is operated by the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration (INSDC). INSDC partners include the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) and the DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ). The SRA is accessible at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Traces/sra from NCBI, at http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena from EBI and at http://trace.ddbj.nig.ac.jp from DDBJ. In this article, we present the content and structure of the SRA, detail our support for sequencing platforms and provide recommended data submission levels and formats. We also briefly outline our response to the challenge of data growth.

• The Autophagy Database: an all-inclusive information resource on autophagy that provides nourishment for research.

  Authors: Keiichi Homma, Koji Suzuki, Hideaki Sugawara

  Nucleic acids research. 10/2010; 39(Database issue):D986-90.

  Autophagy is a process of self-digestion generally observed in eukaryotes and has been shown to play crucial roles for survival under starvation and removal of deleterious substances. Despite greatAutophagy is a process of self-digestion generally observed in eukaryotes and has been shown to play crucial roles for survival under starvation and removal of deleterious substances. Despite great advances that have been made, many problems in mechanisms of autophagy remain unsolved. As a large number of autophagy-related proteins are identified in each species, a database that collects data, identifies their homologs in other species and makes them available will contribute to research advancement. As no such resources exist, we built the Autophagy database (http://tp-apg.genes.nig.ac.jp/autophagy) to provide basics, up-to-date information on relevant literature, and a list of autophagy-related proteins and their homologs in 41 eukaryotes. From the database, the user can search for proteins by keywords or sequences to obtain a wealth of data including functional and structural information and find possible functional homologs of proteins whose functions have been demonstrated in other species. As proteins that bind the phospholipid, phosphatidyl inositol 3-phosphate (PI3P) are essential for autophagy to proceed, we carried out an original analysis to identify probable PI3P-binding proteins, and made the list available from the database. The database is expected to give impetus to further research on autophagy by providing basic and specialized data on the subject.

• Biological databases at DNA Data Bank of Japan in the era of next-generation sequencing technologies.

  Authors: Yuichi Kodama, Eli Kaminuma, Satoshi Saruhashi, Kazuho Ikeo, Hideaki Sugawara, Yoshio Tateno, Yasukazu Nakamura

  Advances in experimental medicine and biology. 01/2010; 680:125-35.

  The Center for Information Biology and DNA Data Bank of Japan (CIB-DDBJ) has operated biological databases since 1987 in collaboration with NCBI and EBI. As one of the three major public databases,The Center for Information Biology and DNA Data Bank of Japan (CIB-DDBJ) has operated biological databases since 1987 in collaboration with NCBI and EBI. As one of the three major public databases, CIB-DDBJ has run four primary databases DDBJ, CIBEX, DDBJ Trace Archive (DTA), and DDBJ Read Archive (DRA) to collect, archive, and provide various kinds of biological data. As the massively parallel new sequencing platforms are increasingly in use, huge amounts of the raw data have been produced. To archive these raw data, we at CIB-DDBJ began operating a new repository, the DDBJ Read Archive (DRA). To accommodate efficiently the processed data as well, we have developed a new pipeline, the DDBJ Read Annotation Pipeline that deals with both data submission and analysis. For data produced by the next generation platforms, the three archives DRA, DDBJ, and CIBEX, which are interconnected by the pipeline, collect the raw, processed sequence, and quantitative data, respectively. The public biological databases at CIB-DDBJ, EBI, and NCBI will together construct world-wide archives for biological data by data sharing to accelerate research in life sciences in the era of next generation sequencing technologies.

• The DBCLS BioHackathon: standardization and interoperability for bioinformatics web services and workflows. The DBCLS BioHackathon Consortium*.

  Authors: Toshiaki Katayama, Kazuharu Arakawa, Mitsuteru Nakao, Keiichiro Ono, Kiyoko F Aoki-Kinoshita, Yasunori Yamamoto, Atsuko Yamaguchi, Shuichi Kawashima, Hong-Woo Chun, Jan Aerts [......] Daron M Standley, Hideaki Sugawara, Toshiyuki Tashiro, Oswaldo Trelles, Rutger A Vos, Mark D Wilkinson, William York, Christian M Zmasek, Kiyoshi Asai, Toshihisa Takagi

  Journal of biomedical semantics. 01/2010; 1(1):8.

  Web services have become a key technology for bioinformatics, since life science databases are globally decentralized and the exponential increase in the amount of available data demands forWeb services have become a key technology for bioinformatics, since life science databases are globally decentralized and the exponential increase in the amount of available data demands for efficient systems without the need to transfer entire databases for every step of an analysis. However, various incompatibilities among database resources and analysis services make it difficult to connect and integrate these into interoperable workflows. To resolve this situation, we invited domain specialists from web service providers, client software developers, Open Bio* projects, the BioMoby project and researchers of emerging areas where a standard exchange data format is not well established, for an intensive collaboration entitled the BioHackathon 2008. The meeting was hosted by the Database Center for Life Science (DBCLS) and Computational Biology Research Center (CBRC) and was held in Tokyo from February 11th to 15th, 2008. In this report we highlight the work accomplished and the common issues arisen from this event, including the standardization of data exchange formats and services in the emerging fields of glycoinformatics, biological interaction networks, text mining, and phyloinformatics. In addition, common shared object development based on BioSQL, as well as technical challenges in large data management, asynchronous services, and security are discussed. Consequently, we improved interoperability of web services in several fields, however, further cooperation among major database centers and continued collaborative efforts between service providers and software developers are still necessary for an effective advance in bioinformatics web service technologies.

• Archiving next generation sequencing data.

  Authors: Martin Shumway, Guy Cochrane, Hideaki Sugawara

  Nucleic acids research. 12/2009;

  Next generation sequencing platforms are producing biological sequencing data in unprecedented amounts. The partners of the International Nucleotide Sequencing Database Collaboration, which includesNext generation sequencing platforms are producing biological sequencing data in unprecedented amounts. The partners of the International Nucleotide Sequencing Database Collaboration, which includes the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), and the DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ), have established the Sequence Read Archive (SRA) to provide the scientific community with an archival destination for next generation data sets. The SRA is now accessible at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Traces/sra from NCBI, at http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena from EBI and at http://www.ddbj.nig.ac.jp/sub/trace_sra-e.html from DDBJ. Users of these resources can obtain data sets deposited in any of the three SRA instances. Links and submission instructions are provided.

• NBRP databases: databases of biological resources in Japan.

  Authors: Yukiko Yamazaki, Ryo Akashi, Yutaka Banno, Takashi Endo, Hiroshi Ezura, Kaoru Fukami-Kobayashi, Kazuo Inaba, Tadashi Isa, Katsuhiko Kamei, Fumie Kasai [......] Moriya Okuma, Kazuhiro Sato, Tadao Serikawa, Toshihiko Shiroishi, Hideaki Sugawara, Hideko Urushibara, Masatoshi Yamamoto, Yoshio Yaoita, Atsushi Yoshiki, Yuji Kohara

  Nucleic acids research. 11/2009;

  The National BioResource Project (NBRP) is a Japanese project that aims to establish a system for collecting, preserving and providing bioresources for use as experimental materials for life scienceThe National BioResource Project (NBRP) is a Japanese project that aims to establish a system for collecting, preserving and providing bioresources for use as experimental materials for life science research. It is promoted by 27 core resource facilities, each concerned with a particular group of organisms, and by one information center. The NBRP database is a product of this project. Thirty databases and an integrated database-retrieval system (BioResource World: BRW) have been created and made available through the NBRP home page (http://www.nbrp.jp). The 30 independent databases have individual features which directly reflect the data maintained by each resource facility. The BRW is designed for users who need to search across several resources without moving from one database to another. BRW provides access to a collection of 4.5-million records on bioresources including wild species, inbred lines, mutants, genetically engineered lines, DNA clones and so on. BRW supports summary browsing, keyword searching, and searching by DNA sequences or gene ontology. The results of searches provide links to online requests for distribution of research materials. A circulation system allows users to submit details of papers published on research conducted using NBRP resources.

• The phenotype and genotype experiment object model (PaGE-OM): a robust data structure for information related to DNA variation.

  Authors: Anthony J Brookes, Heikki Lehvaslaiho, Juha Muilu, Yasumasa Shigemoto, Takashige Oroguchi, Takeshi Tomiki, Atsuhiro Mukaiyama, Akihiko Konagaya, Toshio Kojima, Ituro Inoue [......] Gudmundur A Thorisson, Debasis Dash, Haseena Rajeevan, Matthew W Darlison, Mark Woon, David Fredman, Albert V Smith, Martin Senger, Kimitoshi Naito, Hideaki Sugawara

  Human mutation. 07/2009; 30(6):968-77.

  Torrents of genotype-phenotype data are being generated, all of which must be captured, processed, integrated, and exploited. To do this optimally requires the use of standard and interoperableTorrents of genotype-phenotype data are being generated, all of which must be captured, processed, integrated, and exploited. To do this optimally requires the use of standard and interoperable "object models," providing a description of how to partition the total spectrum of information being dealt with into elemental "objects" (such as "alleles," "genotypes," "phenotype values," "methods") with precisely stated logical interrelationships (such as "A objects are made up from one or more B objects"). We herein propose the Phenotype and Genotype Experiment Object Model (PaGE-OM; www.pageom.org), which has been tested and implemented in conjunction with several major databases, and approved as a standard by the Object Management Group (OMG). PaGE-OM is open-source, ready for use by the wider community, and can be further developed as needs arise. It will help to improve information management, assist data integration, and simplify the task of informatics resource design and construction for genotype and phenotype data projects.

• Web API for biology with a workflow navigation system.

  Authors: Yeondae Kwon, Yasumasa Shigemoto, Yoshikazu Kuwana, Hideaki Sugawara

  Nucleic acids research. 06/2009;

  DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) provides Web-based systems for biological analysis, called Web APIs for biology (WABI). So far, we have developed over 20 SOAP services and several workflows thatDNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) provides Web-based systems for biological analysis, called Web APIs for biology (WABI). So far, we have developed over 20 SOAP services and several workflows that consist of a series of method invocations. In this article, we present newly developed services of WABI, that is, REST-based Web services, additional workflows and a workflow navigation system. Each Web service and workflow can be used as a complete service or a building block for programmers to construct more complex information processing systems. The workflow navigation system aims to help non-programming biologists perform analysis tasks by providing next applicable services on Web browsers according to the output of a previously selected service. With this function, users can apply multiple services consecutively only by following links without any programming or manual copy-and-paste operations on Web browsers. The listed services are determined automatically by the system referring to the dictionaries of service categories, the input/output types of services and HTML tags. WABI and the workflow navigation system are freely accessible at http://www.xml.nig.ac.jp/index.html and http://cyclamen.ddbj.nig.ac.jp/, respectively.

• National BioResource Project Information Center.

  Authors: Yukiko Yamazaki, Hideaki Sugawara

  Experimental animals / Japanese Association for Laboratory Animal Science. 05/2009; 58(2):75-84.

  The information center is the hub and glue of the National BioResource Project (NBRP). The center provides the NBRP portal site and has also contributed to the development of databases for diverseThe information center is the hub and glue of the National BioResource Project (NBRP). The center provides the NBRP portal site and has also contributed to the development of databases for diverse types of bioresources. The program covers information on experimental living organisms as the core of NBRP, and on specimens of biodiversity related to the activities of the Japan node of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). The framework of the former and the information facility of the latter are introduced.

• The GTOP database in 2009: updated content and novel features to expand and deepen insights into protein structures and functions.

  Authors: Satoshi Fukuchi, Keiichi Homma, Shigetaka Sakamoto, Hideaki Sugawara, Yoshio Tateno, Takashi Gojobori, Ken Nishikawa

  Nucleic acids research. 12/2008;

  The Genomes TO Protein Structures and Functions (GTOP) database (http://spock.genes.nig.ac.jp/~genome/gtop.html) freely provides an extensive collection of information on protein structures andThe Genomes TO Protein Structures and Functions (GTOP) database (http://spock.genes.nig.ac.jp/~genome/gtop.html) freely provides an extensive collection of information on protein structures and functions obtained by application of various computational tools to the amino acid sequences of entirely sequenced genomes. GTOP contains annotations of 3D structures, protein families, functions, and other useful data of a protein of interest in user-friendly ways to give a deep insight into the protein structure. From the initial 1999 version, GTOP has been continually updated to reap the fruits of genome projects and augmented to supply novel information, in particular intrinsically disordered regions. As intrinsically disordered regions constitute a considerable fraction of proteins and often play crucial roles especially in eukaryotes, their assignments give important additional clues to the functionality of proteins. Additionally, we have incorporated the following features into GTOP: a platform independent structural viewer, results of HMM searches against SCOP and Pfam, secondary structure predictions, color display of exon boundaries in eukaryotic proteins, assignments of gene ontology terms, search tools, and master files.

• DDBJ dealing with mass data produced by the second generation sequencer.

  Authors: Hideaki Sugawara, Kazuho Ikeo, Satoshi Fukuchi, Takashi Gojobori, Yoshio Tateno

  Nucleic acids research. 11/2008;

  DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) (http://www.ddbj.nig.ac.jp) collected and released 2 368 110 entries or 1 415 106 598 bases in the period from July 2007 to June 2008. The releases in this periodDNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) (http://www.ddbj.nig.ac.jp) collected and released 2 368 110 entries or 1 415 106 598 bases in the period from July 2007 to June 2008. The releases in this period include genome scale data of Bombyx mori, Oryzas latipes, Drosophila and Lotus japonicus. In addition, from this year we collected and released trace archive data in collaboration with National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). The first release contains those of O. latipes and bacterial meta genomes in human gut. To cope with the current progress of sequencing technology, we also accepted and released more than 100 million of short reads of parasitic protozoa and their hosts that were produced by using a Solexa sequencer.

• The H-Invitational Database (H-InvDB), a comprehensive annotation resource for human genes and transcripts.

  Authors: Chisato Yamasaki, Katsuhiko Murakami, Yasuyuki Fujii, Yoshiharu Sato, Erimi Harada, Jun-ichi Takeda, Takayuki Taniya, Ryuichi Sakate, Shingo Kikugawa, Makoto Shimada [......] Yumi Yamaguchi-Kabata, Takeshi Itoh, Teruyoshi Hishiki, Satoshi Fukuchi, Ken Nishikawa, Sumio Sugano, Nobuo Nomura, Yoshio Tateno, Tadashi Imanishi, Takashi Gojobori

  Nucleic acids research. 02/2008; 36(Database issue):D793-9.

  Here we report the new features and improvements in our latest release of the H-Invitational Database (H-InvDB; http://www.h-invitational.jp/), a comprehensive annotation resource for human genes andHere we report the new features and improvements in our latest release of the H-Invitational Database (H-InvDB; http://www.h-invitational.jp/), a comprehensive annotation resource for human genes and transcripts. H-InvDB, originally developed as an integrated database of the human transcriptome based on extensive annotation of large sets of full-length cDNA (FLcDNA) clones, now provides annotation for 120 558 human mRNAs extracted from the International Nucleotide Sequence Databases (INSD), in addition to 54 978 human FLcDNAs, in the latest release H-InvDB_4.6. We mapped those human transcripts onto the human genome sequences (NCBI build 36.1) and determined 34 699 human gene clusters, which could define 34 057 (98.1%) protein-coding and 642 (1.9%) non-protein-coding loci; 858 (2.5%) transcribed loci overlapped with predicted pseudogenes. For all these transcripts and genes, we provide comprehensive annotation including gene structures, gene functions, alternative splicing variants, functional non-protein-coding RNAs, functional domains, predicted sub cellular localizations, metabolic pathways, predictions of protein 3D structure, mapping of SNPs and microsatellite repeat motifs, co-localization with orphan diseases, gene expression profiles, orthologous genes, protein-protein interactions (PPI) and annotation for gene families. The current H-InvDB annotation resources consist of two main views: Transcript view and Locus view and eight sub-databases: the DiseaseInfo Viewer, H-ANGEL, the Clustering Viewer, G-integra, the TOPO Viewer, Evola, the PPI view and the Gene family/group.

• DDBJ with new system and face.

  Authors: Hideaki Sugawara, Osamu Ogasawara, Kousaku Okubo, Takashi Gojobori, Yoshio Tateno

  Nucleic Acids Research. 01/2008; 36:22-24.

• Genome Information Broker for Viruses (GIB-V): database for comparative analysis of virus genomes.

  Authors: Masaki Hirahata, Takashi Abe, Naoto Tanaka, Yoshikazu Kuwana, Yasumasa Shigemoto, Satoru Miyazaki, Yoshiyuki Suzuki, Hideaki Sugawara

  Nucleic acids research. 02/2007; 35(Database issue):D339-42.

  Genome Information Broker for Viruses (GIB-V) is a comprehensive virus genome/segment database. We extracted 18 418 complete virus genomes/segments from the International Nucleotide Sequence DatabaseGenome Information Broker for Viruses (GIB-V) is a comprehensive virus genome/segment database. We extracted 18 418 complete virus genomes/segments from the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration (INSDC, http://www.insdc.org/) by DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ), EMBL and GenBank and stored them in our system. The list of registered viruses is arranged hierarchically according to taxonomy. Keyword searches can be performed for genome/segment data or biological features of any virus stored in GIB-V. GIB-V is equipped with a BLAST search function, and search results are displayed graphically or in list form. Moreover, the BLAST results can be used online with the ClustalW feature of the DDBJ. All available virus genome/segment data can be collected by the GIB-V download function. GIB-V can be accessed at no charge at http://gib-v.genes.nig.ac.jp/.

• DDBJ working on evaluation and classification of bacterial genes in INSDC.

  Authors: Hideaki Sugawara, Takashi Abe, Takashi Gojobori, Yoshio Tateno

  Nucleic acids research. 02/2007; 35(Database issue):D13-5.

  DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) (http://www.ddbj.nig.ac.jp) newly collected and released 12,927,184 entries or 13,787,688,598 bases in the period from July 2005 to June 2006. The released data containDNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) (http://www.ddbj.nig.ac.jp) newly collected and released 12,927,184 entries or 13,787,688,598 bases in the period from July 2005 to June 2006. The released data contain honeybee expressed sequence tags (ESTs), re-examined and re-annotated complete genome data of Escherichia coli K-12 W3110, medaka WGS and human MGA. We also systematically evaluated and classified the genes in the complete bacterial genomes submitted to the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration (INSDC, http://insdc.org) that is composed of DDBJ, EMBL Bank and GenBank. The examination and classification selected 557,000 genes as reliable ones among all the bacterial genes predicted by us.

• Identification of discriminative characteristics for clusters from biologic data with InforBIO software.

  Authors: Naoto Tanaka, Masataka Uchino, Satoru Miyazaki, Hideaki Sugawara

  BMC bioinformatics. 02/2007; 8:281.

  BACKGROUND: There are a number of different methods for generation of trees and algorithms for phylogenetic analysis in the study of bacterial taxonomy. Genotypic information, such as SSU rRNA geneBACKGROUND: There are a number of different methods for generation of trees and algorithms for phylogenetic analysis in the study of bacterial taxonomy. Genotypic information, such as SSU rRNA gene sequences, now plays a more prominent role in microbial systematics than does phenotypic information. However, the integration of genotypic and phenotypic information for polyphasic studies is necessary for the classification and identification of microbes. Thus, we devised an algorithm that objectively identifies discriminative characteristics for focused clusters on generated trees from a dataset composed of coded data, such as phenotypic information. Moreover, this algorithm has been integrated into the polyphasic analysis software, InforBIO. RESULTS: We developed a differential-character-finding algorithm based on information measures and used this algorithm to identify the characteristic that best discriminates operational taxonomic unit clusters. For all characteristics in a dataset, the algorithm estimates commonality in focused clusters and diversity among clusters by scoring based on Shannon's and relative entropies. All the characteristics selected for scoring are equally weighted. Thresholds for the scores are defined to identify discriminative characteristics for clusters efficiently from a database. The unique feature of the algorithm, which is implemented in the InforBIO software, is that it can identify the phenotypic characteristics that discriminate and are associated with the clusters of a phylogenetic tree. We successfully applied this algorithm to the study of phylogenetic clusters of Pseudomonas species. CONCLUSION: The algorithm in the InforBIO software is a novel and useful approach for microbial polyphasic studies. The algorithm can also be applied to diverse cluster analyses. The InforBIO software is available from the download site http://wdcm.nig.ac.jp/inforbio/. This software is free for personal but not commercial use.