PlantGDB, plant genome database and analysis tools.

PlantGDB (http://www.plantgdb.org/) is a database of molecular sequence data for all plant species with significant sequencing efforts. The database organizes EST sequences into contigs that represent tentative unique genes. Contigs are annotated and, whenever possible, linked to their respective genomic DNA. Genome sequence fragments are assembled similarly. The goal of the PlantGDB web site is to establish the basis for identifying sets of genes common to all plants or specific to particular species by integrating a number of bioinformatics tools that facilitate gene prediction and cross- species comparisons. For species with large-scale genome sequencing efforts, PlantGDB provides genome browsing capabilities that integrate all available EST and cDNA evidence for current gene models (for Arabidopsis thaliana, see the AtGDB site at http://www.plantgdb.org/AtGDB/).