Enhancing the fission yeast model organism database POMBASE and extending the benefits of community annotation. (360G-Wellcome-104967_Z_14_Z)

Using Wellcome Trust funding, we have developed PomBase, a Model Organism Database to support exploratory and hypothesis-driven research using the model eukaryote Schizosaccharomyces pombe (fission yeast). To support literature curation, we have also developed a generic web-based, GMOD-compliant curation tool, Canto, which has been deployed to enable community-led curation, and a fission yeast phenotype ontology, FYPO. Here we request funding to sustain this important community resource by: 1. Curating and hosting newly published data. PomBase will continue to represent new data types, and to respond to evolving scientific approaches by developing new curation practices thereby benefitting fission yeast researchers and the broader scientific community. 2. Extending PomBase capabilities to satisfy specific future requirements, including: i) curation and display of multi-gene mutant phenotypes; ii) graphical display of modifications and mutations in sequence context; iii) enhancing gene pages to display concise textual and graphical annotation; iv) network and pathway data visualisation; v) an InterMine implementation for integration and analysis of complex biological data. 3. Extending the PomBase curation model to support Schizosaccharomyces japonicus and S. octosporus enabling researchers to reap the benefits of comparative genomic and functional analyses.