| URL: | https://bar.utoronto.ca/ |
| Full name: | The Bio-Analytical Resource for Plant Bio |
| Description: | The BAR is a 20-year-old multi-omics platform for plant biology, integrating 186 GB of data (gene expression, interactions, structures, polymorphisms) across 33+ plant species via 200+ relational databases. It provides popular visualization tools (eFP Browsers, ePlants, ThaleMine) and a new AI-powered Gaia search tool for unified data access, with open API support and GCBR certification. |
| Year founded: | 2005 |
| Last update: | 2025-01-06 |
| Version: | |
| Accessibility: |
Accessible
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| Country/Region: | Canada |
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| University/Institution: | University of Toronto |
| Address: | Department of Cell and Systems Biology/Centre for the Analysis of Genome Evolution and Function, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3B2, Canada |
| City: | Toronto |
| Province/State: | Ontario |
| Country/Region: | Canada |
| Contact name (PI/Team): | Nicholas J. Provart |
| Contact email (PI/Helpdesk): | nicholas.provart@utoronto.ca |
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20 years of the Bio-Analytic Resource for Plant Biology. [PMID: 39441075]
The Bio-Analytic Resource for Plant Biology ('the BAR', at https://bar.utoronto.ca) is celebrating its 20th year in operation in 2025. The BAR encompasses and provides visualization tools for large 'omics data sets from plants. The BAR covers data from Arabidopsis, tomato, wheat, barley and 29 other plant species (with data for 2 others to be released soon). These data include nucleotide and protein sequence data, gene expression data, protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions, protein structures, subcellular localizations, and polymorphisms. The data are stored in more than 200 relational databases holding 186 GB of data and are presented to the researchers via web apps. These web apps provide data analysis and visualization tools. Some of the most popular tools are eFP ('electronic fluorescent pictograph') Browsers, ePlants and ThaleMine (an Arabidopsis-specific instance of InterMine). The BAR was designated a Global Core Biodata Resource in 2023. Like other GCBRs, the BAR has excellent operational stability, provides access without login requirement, and provides an API for researchers to be able to access BAR data programmatically. We present in this update a new overarching search tool called Gaia that permits easy access to all BAR data, powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence. |
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The Botany Array Resource: e-Northerns, Expression Angling, and promoter analyses. [PMID: 15960624]
The Botany Array Resource provides the means for obtaining and archiving microarray data for Arabidopsis thaliana as well as biologist-friendly tools for viewing and mining both our own and other's data, for example, from the AtGenExpress Consortium. All the data produced are publicly available through the web interface of the database at http://bbc.botany.utoronto.ca. The database has been designed in accordance with the Minimum Information About a Microarray Experiment convention -- all expression data are associated with the corresponding experimental details. The database is searchable and it also provides a set of useful and easy-to-use web-based data-mining tools for researchers with sophisticated yet understandable output graphics. These include Expression Browser for performing 'electronic Northerns', Expression Angler for identifying genes that are co-regulated with a gene of interest, and Promomer for identifying potential cis-elements in the promoters of individual or co-regulated genes. |