Arabidopsis Databases & the USDA Plant Genome Program

[Doug Bigwood]

We would like to clarify some statements made to this newsgroup by Randy
Scholl concerning the Arabidopsis database project at Mass. General
Hospital (MGH).  [See

	From: rscholl at magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Randall L Scholl)
	Subject: Arabidopsis databases Date: 2 Nov 91 17:58:22 GMT
	Sender: news at magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu ]

The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture is indeed funding this project.  This is
one of five projects being funded as part of the Plant Genome Project
at the USDA.  The purpose of each of these projects is to develop
genomic information databases for five species: wheat, soybeans,
maize, pine trees, and Arabidopsis.  These databases will feed a
central database being developed at the U.S. National Agricultural
Library (NAL) in Beltsville, MD.  This central database will be the
public access point for all of this plant genome information.  Access
will be through Internet, electronic mail, dial-up, and possibly some
other public data network.  The database is being developed using
Sybase on Sun hardware.  The MGH group has decided to make their
individual database system, AATDB, available to the public, and indeed
this system will be available through NAL via anonymous FTP (not
magnetic media).  However, the main purpose of this project is to
collect, analyze, and feed data to NAL as part of the larger, Plant
Genome Research Program.

We must note that bibliographic information concerning Arabidopsis is
already available at NAL (and elsewhere via CD-ROM) through AGRICOLA,
the AGRICultural On-Line Access database system.  AGRICOLA will be
integrated into the Plant Genome Database.

Also, we have chosen not to include sequence information due to the
fact that this is being handled quite well by Genbank/EMBL at this
time.  We will integrate sequence information into the database, most
probably via the maintenance of a Genbank satellite system at NAL.

In closing let us reinforce one thing that Randy said:

	4. OVERALL COORDINATION OF ACTIVITIES BETWEEN THE
	     TWO DATABASE GROUPS

	     We are coordinating our efforts at all possible levels.
	The coordination of the survey effort has already been
	described. DATA SUBMITTED TO EITHER GROUP WILL BE FULLY
	SHARED:  This obviously is a very important principle, since
	duplicated submissions must be avoided. We are also sharing
	information regarding database structuring so that these
	features can be as compatible as possible.

	BE ASSURED THAT OUR TWO GROUPS ARE COMMUNICATING AND
	COOPERATING AS FULLY AS POSSIBLE TO SERVE THE ARABIDOPSIS
	COMMUNITY.

Let me add that NAL is also involved in this collaboration.

Please address any questions concerning the Plant Genome Project to the
NAL Plant Genome Coordinator, Susan McCarthy.  Thank you.

Susan McCarthy
Coordinator
Plant Genome Data and Information Center
National Agricultural Library
10301 Baltimore Boulevard
Beltsville, MD 20705-2351
Internet: smccarthy at asrr.arsusda.gov

Doug Bigwood
Database Manager
Plant Genome Data and Information Center
National Agricultural Library
10301 Baltimore Boulevard
Beltsville, MD 20705-2351
Internet: dbigwood at asrr.arsusda.gov