Comparative genomics of cyanobacteria and cyanophage: Establishment of cyanogroup genomics knowledge base (CGKB)

Cyanobacteria are obligate photoautotrophs that are similar to gram-negative bacteria in cell wall structure and replication. They are the major cause of algal blooms and are often used as indicators of the environmental pollutants. Cyanophage are viruses that infect cyanobacteria. They are ubiquitous and abundant in both freshwater and marine environments and play an important role in modulating cyanobacterial populations. They affect primary productivity and water quality and may have a profound influence on human and animal health. There are more than fifteen cyanobacterial genomes but only four marine cyanophage genomes have been completely sequenced. Genomic libraries of freshwater cyanobacteria A. nidulans and cyanophage AS-1 have been generated and characterized. At present, 71 Kb of 2,300 Kb of A. nidulans genome and 60 kb have been mapped for cyanophage AS-1 genome. The comparative genome analysis of cyanobacteria indicates that many A. nidulans clones have high similarity to cyanobacteria Synechococcus sp., and some are unique sequences. For cyanophage AS-1, a small percentage of the sequence has similarity to its hosts but most of the sequence is unique. Some sequences obtained from the genome project of cyanobacteria and cyanophage have been used to design both general and unique primers for detecting environment pollution.;A cyanogroup genomics knowledge base (CGKB) for cyanophage and cyanobacteria has been established for the purpose of sharing information among collaborators and the scientific community. All the data generated in the laboratory has been compiled, analyzed, posted and continuously updated on: http://www.cyanogroup.com/ . Major features of the site include the background information of cyanobacteria and cyanophage, both sequence and phylogenetic analyses, and related links for the cyanogroup. The local database of the knowledge base contains genomic information of cyanobacteria and cyanophages, including two major parts, the NCBI genomic database and laboratory sequencing data. These provide users with efficient search information in one location without the need to reference other websites or databases. The CGKB is an open access database/analysis applications package that facilities all the cyano-related research.