Database Commons

a catalog of worldwide biological databases

AnoBase (http://www.anobase.org) is an integrated, relational database of basic biological and genetic data on anopheline species, with a particular emphasis on Anopheles gambiae. It has been designed as an information source and research support tool for the broad vector biology community. Although AnoBase is not a primary genomic database that develops and provides tools to access the genome of the malaria mosquito, it nevertheless contains several sections that offer data of genomic interest such as in situ hybridization images, an integrated gene tool and direct online access to AnoXcel, the proteomic database of An. gambiae. Moreover, AnoBase also contains information on non-gambiae mosquito species and a novel section on studies related to insecticide resistance.

The proteome of the mosquito Anopheles gambiae was organized on a hyperlinked spreadsheet format containing one protein per row and several pieces of information in each column. The information for each protein ranges from the presence or absence of signal peptide indicative of secretion, presence of transmembrane domains, similarities to several databases, chromosomal location, and relatedness to other An. gambiae proteins, etc. Hosted by AnoBase (http://www.anobase.org/), the whole spreadsheet or segments of it can be downloaded or searched from http://www.anobase.org/AnoBase/Genes/Ano-Xcel by the scientist dealing with the annotation of proteome subsets such as those deriving from transcriptomes, nucleotide microarrays or high throughput mass spectrometry data.