New & Noteworthy

New and improved Locus Summary pages

October 13, 2014

We are pleased to announce that the redesign of our gene-specific pages, which has been ongoing over the past year, is now complete with the release of the reworked Locus Summary page. The page contains all of the information on the previous Locus Summary page, and has a more modern look and feel. Note that the order and organization of the sections has changed, and the order of the tabs across the top of the page has changed as well. New elements on the page include a navigation bar on the left to take you to the different sections of the page, a redesigned map showing genomic context in the sequence section, and a new interactive histogram summarizing expression data. Biochemical pathway information now appears in its own section (see an example), and we have added a History section to replace the previous Locus History tab. If there are no data of a particular type (for example, Pathways), then that section is absent from the page.

Please explore this new page and send us your feedback.

Categories: New Data, Website changes

Redesigned Expression pages

October 06, 2014

The Expression pages have been redesigned and now include a clickable histogram depicting conditions and datasets in which the gene of interest is up- or down-regulated. Expression data are derived from records contained in the Gene Expression Omnibus, and datasets are assigned one or more categories to facilitate grouping, filtering and browsing. Short descriptions of the focus of each experiment are also provided. The PCL files generated for each dataset are used to populate the expression analysis tool SPELL. Also included on the pages are network diagrams which display genes that share expression profiles. The Expression pages provide seamless access to the SPELL tool at SGD, as well as external resources such as Cyclebase, GermOnline, YMGV and FuncBase.

Please explore these new pages, accessible via the Expression tab on your favorite Locus Summary page, and send us your feedback.

Categories: New Data, Website changes

New Sequence, Chromosome, and Contig pages

August 25, 2014

New Sequence pages are now available in SGD for virtually every yeast gene (e.g., HMRA1 Sequence page), and include genomic sequence annotations for the Reference Strain S288C, as well as several Alternative Reference Genomes from strains such as CEN.PK, RM11-1a, Sigma1278b, and W303 (more Alternative References coming soon). Each page includes an Overview section containing descriptive information, maps depicting genomic context in Reference Strain S288C (as shown below) and Alternative Reference strains, as well as chromosomal and relative coordinates in S288C.

The sequence itself includes display options for genomic DNA, coding DNA, or translated protein.

Also available on each Sequence page are links to redesigned S288C Chromosome pages, links to new Contig pages for Alternative Reference Genomes, and a Downloads menu for easy access to DNA sequences of several other industrial strains and environmental isolates. The new Sequence, Chromosome, and Contig pages make use of many of the features you enjoy on other new or redesigned pages at SGD, including graphical display of data, sortable tables, and responsive visualizations. The Sequence pages also provide seamless access to other tools at SGD such as BLAST and Web Primer. Please explore these new pages, accessible via the Sequence tab on your favorite Locus Summary page, and send us your feedback.

Categories: Data updates, New Data, Sequence, Website changes

Shared Domains and Phosphorylation Sites on Protein Pages

June 24, 2014

We have redesigned the Protein page to include a new tabular display of protein domains. This table provides the identifier for each domain and illustrates the respective locations of the domains within the protein. In addition to this new table, the domains are displayed in an interactive network diagram that presents the proteins that share these domains with your protein of interest (see figure below, left).

Another new feature on the Protein page is the display of phosphorylation sites within the protein’s sequence (as curated by BioGRID). This feature is available for both the reference strain S288C and other commonly used S. cerevisae strains, using the pull-down to select the desired strain view (see figure below, right) .

Left: Proteins (gray circles) that share domains (colored squares) with Fas1p (yellow circle). Right: an example of some of the phosphorylation sites in Swe1p (red residues).

Categories: New Data, Website changes

Educational Resources on the SGD Community Wiki

February 21, 2014

Did you know you can find and contribute teaching and other educational resources to SGD? We have updated our Educational Resources page, found on the SGD Community Wiki. There are links to teaching resources such as classroom materials, courses, and fun sites, as well as pointers to books, dedicated learning sites, and tutorials that can help you learn more about basic genetics. Many thanks to Dr. Erin Strome and Dr. Bethany Bowling of Northern Kentucky University for being the first to contribute to this updated site by providing a series of Bioinformatics Project Modules designed to introduce undergraduates to using SGD and other bioinformatics resources.

We would like to encourage others to contribute additional teaching or general educational resources to this page. To do so, just request a wiki account by contacting us at the SGD Help desk – you will then be able to edit the SGD Community Wiki. If you prefer, we would also be happy to assist you directly with these edits.

Note that there are many other types of information you can add to the SGD Community Wiki, including information about your favorite genes, protocols, upcoming meetings, and job postings. The Community Wiki can be accessed from most SGD pages by clicking on “Community” on the main menu bar and selecting “Wiki.” The Educational Resources page is linked from the left menu bar under “Resources” from all the SGD Community Wiki pages. For more information on this newly updated page, please view the video below, “Educational Resources on the SGD Community Wiki.”

Categories: New Data, Website changes

Tags: educational, genetics, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, teaching

New at SGD: GO Annotation Extension Data, Redesigned GO and Phenotype Pages

February 12, 2014

Annotation Extension data for select GO annotations are now available at SGD. The Annotation Extension field (also referred to as column 16 after its position in the gene_association file of GO annotations) was introduced by the Gene Ontology Consortium (GOC) to capture details such as substrates of a protein kinase, targets of regulators, or spatial/temporal aspects of processes. The information in this field serves to provide more biological context to the GO annotation. At SGD, these data are accessible for select GO annotations via the small blue ‘i’ icon on the newly redesigned GO Details pages. See, for example, the substrate information for MEK1 kinase (image below). Currently, a limited number of GO annotations contain data in this field because we have only recently begun to capture this information; more will be added in the future.

We have also redesigned the GO Details and Phenotype Details tab pages to make it easier to understand and make connections within the data. In addition to all of the annotations that were previously displayed, these pages now include graphical summaries, interactive network diagrams displaying relationships between genes and tables that can be sorted, filtered, or downloaded. In addition, SGD Paper pages, each focusing on a particular reference that has been curated in SGD, now show all of the various types of data that are derived from that paper in addition to the list of genes covered in the paper (example). These pages provide seamless access to other tools at SGD such as GO Term Finder, GO Slim Mapper, and YeastMine. Please explore all of these new features from your favorite Locus Summary page and send us your feedback.

Categories: New Data, Website changes

Links to S. pombe Orthologs

December 20, 2013

SGD now provides links from individual S. cerevisiae genes to their Schizosaccharomyces pombe orthologs at PomBase. These links are labeled “PomBase”, and can be found on the Locus Summary Pages, within the Homologs section.

Categories: Website changes

More Regulation Data and Redesigned Tab Pages Now Available

November 26, 2013

Transcriptional regulation data are now available on new “Regulation” tab pages for virtually every yeast gene. We are collaborating with the YEASTRACT database to display regulation annotations curated both by SGD and by YEASTRACT on these new pages. Regulation annotations are each derived from a published reference, and include a transcriptional regulator, a target gene, the experimental method used to determine the regulatory relationship, and additional data such as the strain background or experimental conditions. The relationships between regulators and the target gene are also depicted in an interactive Network Visualization diagram. The Regulation tab for DNA-binding transcription factors (TFs) includes these items and additionally contains a Regulation Summary paragraph summarizing the regulatory role of that TF, a table listing its protein domains and motifs, DNA binding site information, a table of its regulatory target genes, and an enrichment of the GO Process terms to which its target genes are annotated (view an example). In the coming months we will be adding this extra information to the Regulation pages of other classes of TFs, such as those that act by binding other TFs.

We have also completely redesigned the web display of the Interactions and Literature tab pages, which now include graphical display of data, sortable tables, interactive visualizations, and more navigation options. These pages provide seamless access to other tools at SGD such as GO tools and YeastMine. Please feel free to explore all of these new features from your favorite Locus Summary page and send us your feedback.

Categories: New Data, Website changes

Regulation Information Integrated into SGD

July 18, 2013

The Locus Summary pages of 147 DNA-binding transcription factors (TFs; retrieve the list) now include a new tabbed page, Regulation. This page contains information on the regulatory targets of the TF, its binding sites, and its domains and motifs, as well as a free-text paragraph summarizing its biological context. Take a look at a brief video, below, that explains the different kinds of data found on the Regulation tab. In addition to viewing these data page by page, you can download them all using SGD’s data search and retrieval tool, YeastMine. Click on “Regulation” in the YeastMine menu bar to view the predefined templates for regulation data searches.

 

New Regulation Data at SGD from yeastgenome on Vimeo.

Categories: New Data, Website changes

Links to LoQate

July 09, 2013

SGD now provides links to LoQate (the localization and quantitation atlas of the yeast proteome) from the Protein Information section of the Locus Summary Pages. The LoQate database provides localization and abundance data for 5300 yeast proteins at single-cell resolution under three different stress conditions: DTT, H2O2, and nitrogen starvation (Breker et al, 2013, J Cell Biol. 200(6), 839-850). Thanks to Maya Schuldiner for helping us set up the links.

Categories: New Data, Website changes

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