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We reported an updated database of MiCroKiTS 4.0 (http://microkit.biocuckoo.org) for proteins temporally and spatially localized in distinct subcellular positions including midbody, centrosome, kinetochore, telomere and mitotic spindle during cell division/mitosis. The database was updated from our previously developed database of MiCroKit 3.0, which contained 1489 proteins mostly forming super-complexes at midbody, centrosome and kinetochore from seven eukaryotes. Since the telomere and spindle apparatus are critical for cell division, the proteins localized at the two positions were also integrated. From the scientific literature, we curated 1872 experimentally identified proteins which at least locate in one of the five positions from eight species. Then the ortholog detection was performed to identify potential MiCroKiTS proteins from 144 eukaryotic organisms, which contains 66, 45 and 33 species of animals, fungi and plants, respectively. In total, 87,983 unique proteins with corresponding localization information were integrated into the database. The primary references of experimentally identified localizations were provided and the fluorescence microscope figures for the localizations of human proteins were shown. The orthologous relations between predicted and experimental localizations were also present. Taken together, we anticipate the database can serve as a useful resource for further analyzing the molecular mechanisms during cell division. © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

During cell division/mitosis, a specific subset of proteins is spatially and temporally assembled into protein super complexes in three distinct regions, i.e. centrosome/spindle pole, kinetochore/centromere and midbody/cleavage furrow/phragmoplast/bud neck, and modulates cell division process faithfully. Although many experimental efforts have been carried out to investigate the characteristics of these proteins, no integrated database was available. Here, we present the MiCroKit database (http://microkit.biocuckoo.org) of proteins that localize in midbody, centrosome and/or kinetochore. We collected into the MiCroKit database experimentally verified microkit proteins from the scientific literature that have unambiguous supportive evidence for subcellular localization under fluorescent microscope. The current version of MiCroKit 3.0 provides detailed information for 1489 microkit proteins from seven model organisms, including Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizasaccharomyces pombe, Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, Xenopus laevis, Mus musculus and Homo sapiens. Moreover, the orthologous information was provided for these microkit proteins, and could be a useful resource for further experimental identification. The online service of MiCroKit database was implemented in PHP + MySQL + JavaScript, while the local packages were developed in JAVA 1.5 (J2SE 5.0).