Database Commons

a catalog of worldwide biological databases

The Total Integrated Archive of short-Read and Array (TIARA; http://tiara.gmi.ac.kr) database stores and integrates human genome data generated from multiple technologies including next-generation sequencing and high-resolution comparative genomic hybridization array. The TIARA genome browser is a powerful tool for the analysis of personal genomic information by exploring genomic variants such as SNPs, indels and structural variants simultaneously. As of September 2012, the TIARA database provides raw data and variant information for 13 sequenced whole genomes, 16 sequenced transcriptomes and 33 high resolution array assays. Sequencing reads are available at a depth of ~30× for whole genomes and 50× for transcriptomes. Information on genomic variants includes a total of ~9.56 million SNPs, 23 025 of which are non-synonymous SNPs, and ~1.19 million indels. In this update, by adding high coverage sequencing of additional human individuals, the TIARA genome database now provides an extensive record of rare variants in humans. Following TIARA's fundamentally integrative approach, new transcriptome sequencing data are matched with whole-genome sequencing data in the genome browser. Users can here observe, for example, the expression levels of human genes with allele-specific quantification. Improvements to the TIARA genome browser include the intuitive display of new complex and large-scale data sets.

High-throughput genomic technologies have been used to explore personal human genomes for the past few years. Although the integration of technologies is important for high-accuracy detection of personal genomic variations, no databases have been prepared to systematically archive genomes and to facilitate the comparison of personal genomic data sets prepared using a variety of experimental platforms. We describe here the Total Integrated Archive of Short-Read and Array (TIARA; http://tiara.gmi.ac.kr) database, which contains personal genomic information obtained from next generation sequencing (NGS) techniques and ultra-high-resolution comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) arrays. This database improves the accuracy of detecting personal genomic variations, such as SNPs, short indels and structural variants (SVs). At present, 36 individual genomes have been archived and may be displayed in the database. TIARA supports a user-friendly genome browser, which retrieves read-depths (RDs) and log2 ratios from NGS and CGH arrays, respectively. In addition, this database provides information on all genomic variants and the raw data, including short reads and feature-level CGH data, through anonymous file transfer protocol. More personal genomes will be archived as more individuals are analyzed by NGS or CGH array. TIARA provides a new approach to the accurate interpretation of personal genomes for genome research.