SRI International is pleased to announce a major update to the BioCyc family of websites. SRI’s BioCyc solution features a collection of nearly 18,000 Pathway/ Genome Databases (PGDBs) for sequenced bacteria and major eukaryotes and supporting software tools. BioCyc provides a reference on the genomes, metabolic pathways of thousands of sequenced organisms and the regulatory networks of some of the organisms. BioCyc data is obtained by combining computational inferences, import data from other databases, and literature-based curation.
The website update provides BioCyc users with an improved user experience with an enhanced, easy-to-navigate interface. Updates also include:
Tools Collection
The Tools Collection provides dozens of software solutions that allow users to derive insights and analysis from genomic databases. The five main tool groups—Search, Genome, Metabolism, Analysis and SmartTables—are now consolidated, making it easier for users to create insights. Additionally, several of the tools have been enhanced as part of the launch:
- Multiple sequence-alignment tool has been extended to support the alignment of arbitrary regions from multiple BioCyc genomes
- Comparative analysis tools, such as an improved comparison of metabolic pathways across organisms, have been extended
- New multi-organism search tools added that enable users to issue searches across user-defined organism sets. For example, users can query a set of organisms to find which of them contain a given gene, a given pathway, or a given metabolite.
- Enhanced user experience: users can now easily search Genome, Metabolism, Analysis and SmartTables—now consolidated, making it easier for users to create insights.
Pathway Tools Desktop Software
The Pathway Tools Desktop Software is now more easily available via the BioCyc website. This solution enables individuals to generate their own pathway databases from sequenced genomes, which is required by more and more companies in the bioinformatics/genomics industry today. In addition, Pathway Tools provides the ability to run the solution inside the corporate network with both a desktop and webserver web user interface.