Plant DNA C-values database

Two plant genome size databases have been recently updated and/or extended: the Plant DNA C-values database (http://data.kew.org/cvalues), and GSAD, the Genome Size in Asteraceae database (http://www.asteraceaegenomesize.com). While the first provides information on nuclear DNA contents across land plants and some algal groups, the second is focused on one of the largest and most economically important angiosperm families, Asteraceae. Genome size data have numerous applications: they can be used in comparative studies on genome evolution, or as a tool to appraise the cost of whole-genome sequencing programs. The growing interest in genome size and increasing rate of data accumulation has necessitated the continued update of these databases. Currently, the Plant DNA C-values database (Release 6.0, Dec. 2012) contains data for 8510 species, while GSAD has 1219 species (Release 2.0, June 2013), representing increases of 17 and 51%, respectively, in the number of species with genome size data, compared with previous releases. Here we provide overviews of the most recent releases of each database, and outline new features of GSAD. The latter include (i) a tool to visually compare genome size data between species, (ii) the option to export data and (iii) a webpage containing information about flow cytometry protocols.

近期有两款植物基因组大小数据库完成了更新与拓展，即植物DNA C值数据库（Plant DNA C-values database，http://data.kew.org/cvalues）与菊科基因组大小数据库（Genome Size in Asteraceae database，简称GSAD，http://www.asteraceaegenomesize.com）。前者涵盖陆生植物与部分藻类类群的核DNA含量信息，后者则聚焦于被子植物门中规模最大、经济价值最高的类群之一——菊科（Asteraceae）。基因组大小数据具备多重应用场景：可用于基因组演化的比较研究，亦可作为评估全基因组测序项目成本的工具。随着学界对基因组大小研究关注度的提升与数据积累速率的加快，持续维护与更新这些数据库已成为必要之举。截至目前，植物DNA C值数据库（2012年12月发布6.0版）收录了8510个物种的相关数据，而菊科基因组大小数据库（2013年6月发布2.0版）则包含1219个物种的数据；相较此前版本，二者收录的已具备基因组大小数据的物种数量分别增长了17%与51%。本文将对两款数据库的最新版本进行综述，并介绍菊科基因组大小数据库的新增功能，包括：(i) 可直观比较不同物种基因组大小数据的可视化工具；(ii) 数据导出功能；(iii) 提供流式细胞术实验方案相关信息的网页板块。