RegulonDB

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RegulonDB
Who:	Julio Collado-Vides
What:	RegulonDB provides information on operon organization and regulation in E. coli.
Where:	RegulonDB
Updates	Version 5.0 was released early 2006.
Upcoming events	link to event calendar, if applicable
Web Services

About RegulonDB

RegulonDB provides curated information on gene organization and regulation in E. coli. Current information is provided on the gene, operon and regulon level. Future expansion will include information on regulation beyond transcription initiation.

Content

The RegulonDB has information on the transcription units and the mechanical details of regulation of said units including: promoters and sigma factors, terminators and regulons. Additionally, the binding sites of the ribomsome and transcriptional regulators is included. There is also information on the gene product. Additionally, the evidence for each fact is given in the cited references.

Using RegulonDB

Getting started with RegulonDB is relatively simple. Simply type in the gene, regulon or operon name that is desired. There is also a glossary that defines the terms that are used. Though there is a tutorial heading on the menu, there is really no tutorial--it's simply the glossary.

Browsing

Browsing RegulonDB has two main browsing functions: Genome Browser and Nebulon NetView.

To browse RegulonDB using Genome Browser, the user is presented with a graphical representation of the E. coli chromosome. Randomly clicking on a section gives the user a pictorial view of the selected section of the genome.

Browsing RegulonDB utilizing the Nebulon Net-View (though incredibly slow) gave an interesting view of the OxyR regulon. It allows one to search by gene name and graphically see the genes directly regulated by OxyR. An additional layer allows one to see which genes are regulated by those directly regulated by OxyR. Moving the mouse over a gene gave a pop-up window with a summary of information on this particular gene.

Searching

Searching RegulonDB is pages. One can search by gene name, growth conditions, operon and regulon. In addition to searching by common gene name, synonym names also work (b number, older names, etc.).

Usage examples

To search and test the database, I used OxyR. Here is a brief description about my experience:

First, I searched at the gene level. The page was well-orgainized and included some of the following: Name, Synonyms, Position, Nucleotide Sequence and links to other databases. The picture at the top allowed for clicking on surronding genes, as well as the promoter region of oxyR and oxyS.

Clicking on the promoter region took me to a new page that showed the operon of oxyR as well as the oxyR transcription unit. The information on this page gave me the +1, sigma factor and the sequence of the promoter, though I'm not sure what the difference between capital and lower cased letters mean.

Overall, interacting with the site was pretty straight-forward. I found the cited evidence to be correct. However, this was because I knew what the evidence was. The evidence is not directly linked to the fact-it's simply a list at the bottom.

Discussion

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References

RegulonDB: a database on transcriptional regulation in Eschericia coli.
Huerta et al NAR 1998 vol 26. No. 1 pg 55-59.

RegulonDB (version4.0): transcriptional regulation, operon organization and growth conditions in Escherichia coli K-12.
Salgado et al NAR 2004 Vol. 32 D303-D306.

RegulonDB (version 5.0): Escherichia coli K-12 transcriptional regulatory network, operon organization, and growth conditions.
Salgado et al NAR 2006 Vol. 34 D394-3977.

External Links

RegulonDB

Discussion of RegulonDB on other websites

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