Enhanced Echinobase: A Community Genomics Research Resource For The Future

SUMMARY OF OVERALL COMPONENT Enhanced Echinobase: A Community Genomics Research Resource for the Future Echinobase (Echinobase.org) is the central repository and web-accessible resource for all of the diverse genomic data types produced by biologists working with echinoderms. Echinobase was cloned from Xenbase to enhance database functionality, web application capabilities, and performance, all at a fraction of the cost of doing this independently. A key added feature developed through this work are database modules that support curation and searches of gene expression data. The look and feel of Echinobase is unique, and is tailored to its user base including the creation of a multi-species viewer. The website provides rapid integrated capabilities for search, view and download of a range of datatypes to empower their own research. Echinoderms are one of only three major phyla within the deuterostomes, and therefore the species within this clade encompass a large taxonomic diversity of body plans. Species of echinoderms are powerful model systems for understanding the processes by which the genome controls development. The strengths of this experimental model will continue to make it a preeminent system for the analysis of the genomic control of embryogenesis and for analyses of developmental gene regulatory networks (GRNs) to reveal the mechanistic links between the genome and development and consequently the genomic basis of congenital diseases.