Cyanobase: visual presentation of information on the genome of Cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC6803 through WWW, p. 102–103

Kazusa DNA Research Institute launched a project of sequencing the entire genome of an unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC6803 in 1994. The data that we gained through the project have been registered in public databases. But, it is not easy to properly grasp information on the cyanobacterium genome with only the information in the databases. Now, we constructed CyanoBase, a data presentation system through WWW, that enables users to visualize the genomic information of this species. CyanoBase includes the additional information that are not described in public databases. Overview of CyanoBase The advance of technology of Internet enables biologists to collect necessary information through computer terminals. The trend demands the providers of data more sophisticated presenta-tion of sequence data. Our institute, Kazusa DNA Research Institute, launched a project of sequencing the entire genome(3.6 Mb) of a unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC6803[1]. We determined a continuous 1.0 Mb sequence of this strain and assigned 818 ORFs tentatively[2]. We will nish determination of the whole genome until the rst half of the next year. The cyanobacterium has been used as a model organism for the study of oxygenic photosyn-thesis because it carries a complete set of genes for oxygenic photosynthesis. The deduction of its entire genome sequence will not only be a great contribution to the study of the mechanism of oxygenic photosynthesis but also the comprehensive understanding of genome organizatio