The COMBREX project: design, methodology, and initial results

Abstract

Experimental data exists for only a vanishingly small fraction of sequenced microbial genes. This community page discusses the progress made by the COMBREX project to address this important issue using both computational and experimental resources.

Figure 1. Schematic overview of the computational and experimental contributions of COMBREX and its users, and the interrelationships of these contributions.

Data and results specific to COMBREX are shown in boxes. External data imported into COMBREX are also shown, with arrows indicating entry points into the cycle. Methodology employed by COMBREX and its users is shown in blue type, as it is used to generate data. Not shown are two critical contributions to COMBREX: genome and cluster data imported from NCBI RefSeq and ProtClustDB, respectively, and NIH funding, which enables the grants that COMBREX issues to experimental laboratories.

Figure 2. Definitions of COMBREX functional status symbols and fractions of microbial genes in COMBREX in each status category.

Experimentally characterized proteins are green. (Those in the green set that have been manually curated by the GSDB are also marked with a gold “G.”) Proteins with functional predictions but no experimental evidence are blue. Proteins with no available functional predictions are black.