MapsiDB: an integrated web database for type I polyketide synthases.

Polyketides have diverse biological activities, including pharmacological functions such as antibiotic, antitumor and agrochemical properties. They are biosynthesized from short carboxylic acid precursors by polyketide synthases (PKSs). As natural polyketide products include many clinically important drugs and the volume of data on polyketides is rapidly increasing, the development of a database system to manage polyketide data is essential. MapsiDB is an integrated web database formulated to contain data on type I polyketides and their PKSs, including domain and module composition and related genome information. Data on polyketides were collected from journals and online resources and processed with analysis programs. Web interfaces were utilized to construct and to access this database, allowing polyketide researchers to add their data to this database and to use it easily.