Rapid Fire Presentation 8th International Conference on Plasmodium vivax Research 2022

PlasmoDB and VectorBase: ‘Omics support for the global Vector and Plasmodium research communities (#204)

Susanne W Warrenfeltz 1 , On behalf of VEuPathDB Team 2
  1. Center for Tropical and Global Diseases, University of Georgia, Athens, GEORGIA, United States
  2. VEuPathDB Team, Various

PlasmoDB and VectorBase  (PlasmoDB.org & Vectorbase.org) provide free, online access to genomic-scale datasets and data mining tools for 112 organisms including Plasmodium species and their vectors. These resources are part of VEuPathDB (https://veupathdb.org), which supports >500 species including protozoan parasites, fungi and oomycetes, arthropod vectors and selected host species. VEuPathDB resources facilitate the discovery of meaningful biological relationships from large volumes of data by integrating pre-analyzed Omics data with advanced search capabilities, data visualization and analysis tools. Specialized analytical or computational skills are not required when using PlasmoDB or VectorBase since tools are offered in a friendly web-interface and supported by an email help desk, video tutorials, webinars, and social media. Available data types specific to Plasmodium vivax and Anopheles spp. include genome sequence and population-level variation data; manually-curated and automatically generated annotation; epigenetic, transcriptomic and proteomic data; and pathway information. In addition, VectorBase includes MapVEu for the exploration of geospatially resolved vector surveillance data.  To take advantage of data from other species, a phylogenetic framework facilitates cross-species functional inference via orthology. In addition, a Galaxy interface provides a bioinformatics platform for privately analyzing your own large scale data and porting your results to VEuPathDB for comparisons with public data. VEuPathDB’s comprehensive data mining resources offer valuable in silico hypothesis development and testing, so that end users can answer questions such as expression levels and timing, domain presence, gene model integrity and genetic variation before venturing into the laboratory.  VEuPathDB is one of two NIAID-supported Bioinformatics Resource Centers, and receives additional support from the Wellcome Trust, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Please email help@veupathdb.org with questions or suggestions.