Database Commons

a catalog of worldwide biological databases

Recent advances in sequencing technology have created unprecedented opportunities for biological research. However, the increasing throughput of these technologies has created many challenges for data management and analysis. As the demand for sophisticated analyses increases, the development time of software and algorithms is outpacing the speed of traditional publication. As technologies continue to be developed, methods change rapidly, making publications less relevant for users. The SEQanswers wiki (SEQwiki) is a wiki database that is actively edited and updated by the members of the SEQanswers community (http://SEQanswers.com/). The wiki provides an extensive catalogue of tools, technologies and tutorials for high-throughput sequencing (HTS), including information about HTS service providers. It has been implemented in MediaWiki with the Semantic MediaWiki and Semantic Forms extensions to collect structured data, providing powerful navigation and reporting features. Within 2 years, the community has created pages for over 500 tools, with approximately 400 literature references and 600 web links. This collaborative effort has made SEQwiki the most comprehensive database of HTS tools anywhere on the web. The wiki includes task-focused mini-reviews of commonly used tools, and a growing collection of more than 100 HTS service providers. SEQwiki is available at: http://wiki.SEQanswers.com/.

SUMMARY: The affordability of high-throughput sequencing has created an unprecedented surge in the use of genomic data in basic, translational and clinical research. The rapid evolution of sequencing technology, coupled with its broad adoption across biology and medicine, necessitates fast, collaborative interdisciplinary discussion. SEQanswers provides a real-time knowledge-sharing resource to address this need, covering experimental and computational aspects of sequencing and sequence analysis. Developers of popular analysis tools are among the >4000 active members, and ~40 peer-reviewed publications have referenced SEQanswers.
AVAILABILITY: The SEQanswers community is freely accessible at http://SEQanswers.com/