微生物および生化学技術ジャーナル

概要

A New Web Server for the Rapid Identification of Microorganisms

Olivier Croce, Francois Chevenet and Richard Christen

Small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) gene sequences are now widely used to identify microbial organisms. However, the public databases now comprise mostly rRNA gene sequences resulting from PCR and cloning of DNA isolated from environmental samples. Most of these sequences are poorly annotated and do not bear proper taxonomic assignments. As a result, this fl ood of sequences makes routine identifi cations often very tedious.
We propose a new web server for fast and reliable identifi cations of microbial isolates. It allows retrieving related sequences and their taxonomies, in order to proceed to phylogenetic analyses. This web tool is based on specifi c databases of cultured species for Bacteria, Archaea and Protozoa. In addition, various data helping the identifi cation procedure can be downloaded. The server also includes online software to automatically display annotated phylogenetic trees.