Analysis of the Candida albicans proteome. II. Protein information technology on the Net (update 2002).

Candida albicans is an important fungal model organism of noteworthy clinical interest in modern medicine. Different initiatives addressing its sequencing and physical mapping have been carried out. The C. albicans genome sequence is currently near to completion at Stanford University, heralding new challenges in proteomic research and functional analyses of its gene products. This review presents an update of the most relevant data resources that are available through the World Wide Web to scientists working in the area of the analysis of the C. albicans proteome. An overview of the current status of the main universal protein sequence databases and specialized data collections for C. albicans is given. Various issues of the single public C. albicans 2D-PAGE database are also described, highlighting the significance of setting up graphical query interface-based databanks to visualize 2D-PAGE images through the Net. Finally, we also emphasize the pressing need to create a "cyber-bioknowledge library" that will integrate all the databases developed at the different levels for the understanding of life processes as well as bioinformatic tools for interpreting this deluge of data generated through the Internet. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science B.V.