A data management system for microbial genome projects

A lot of microbial genome sequencing projects is being done in many genome centers around the world, since the first genome, Haemophilus influenzae, was sequenced in 1995. The deluge of microbial genome sequence data demands new and highly automatic data flow system in order for genome researchers to manage and analyze their own bulky sequence data from low-level to high-level. In such an aspect, we developed the automatic data management system for microbial genome projects, which consists mainly of local database, analysis programs, and user-friendly interface. We designed and implemented the local database for large-scale sequencing projects, which makes systematic and consistent data management and retrieval possible and is tightly coupled with analysis programs and web-based user interface, That is, parsing and storage of the results of analysis programs in local database is possible and user can retrieve the data in any level of data process by means of web-based graphical user interface. Contig assembly, homology search, and ORF prediction, which are essential in genome projects, make analysis programs in our system. All but Contig assembly program are open as public domain. These programs are connected with each other by means of a lot of utility programs. As a result, this system will maximize the efficiency in cost and time in genome research.