The Eukaryotic Pathgen Database, or EuPathDB, is a database of bioinformatic and experimental data related to a variety of eukaryotic pathogens. It was established in 2006 under a
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
program to create
Bioinformatics Resource Centers The Bioinformatics Resource Centers (BRCs) are a group of five Internet-based research centers established in 2004 and funded by NIAID (the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.)[NIH
The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...]
Bioinformatics Resource Centers program as ApiDB, a resource meant to cover
Apicomplexa
The Apicomplexa (also called Apicomplexia) are a large phylum of parasitic alveolates. Most of them possess a unique form of organelle that comprises a type of non-photosynthetic plastid called an apicoplast, and an apical complex structure. T ...
n parasites. ApiDB originally consisted of component sites CryptoDB (for ''
Cryptosporidium
''Cryptosporidium'', sometimes informally called crypto, is a genus of apicomplexan parasitic alveolates that can cause a respiratory and gastrointestinal illness (cryptosporidiosis) that primarily involves watery diarrhea (intestinal cryptosp ...
''), PlasmoDB (for ''
Plasmodium
''Plasmodium'' is a genus of unicellular eukaryotes that are obligate parasites of vertebrates and insects. The life cycles of ''Plasmodium'' species involve development in a blood-feeding insect host which then injects parasites into a vert ...
''), and ToxoDB (for ''
Toxoplasma gondii
''Toxoplasma gondii'' () is an obligate intracellular parasitic protozoan (specifically an apicomplexan) that causes toxoplasmosis. Found worldwide, ''T. gondii'' is capable of infecting virtually all warm-blooded animals, but felids, such as d ...
'').
[ As ApiDB grew to focus on eukaryotic pathogens beyond Apicomplexans, the name was changed to EuPathDB to support its broadened scope.][ EuPathDB was the result of collaboration between many different parasitologists, including David Roos, Jessica Kissinger and Dyann Wirth.
]
Functions
It is an integrated database covering the eukaryotic pathogens in several genera. It enables the accessing of detailed genome
In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding ge ...
information associated with these pathogens. EuPathDB was formerly known as ApiDB and was the integrated resources for the apicomplexans covering the databases of associated pathogens, ToxoDB, PiroplasmDB and CryptoDB.Babesia
''Babesia'', also called ''Nuttallia'', is an apicomplexan parasite that infects red blood cells and is transmitted by ticks. Originally discovered by the Romanian bacteriologist Victor Babeș in 1888, over 100 species of ''Babesia'' have since ...
'' and ''Theileria
''Theileria'' is a genus of parasites that belongs to the phylum Apicomplexa, and is closely related to ''Plasmodium''. Two ''Theileria'' species, ''T. annulata'' and ''T. parva'', are important cattle parasites. ''T. annulata'' causes tropical ...
''. This BRC is one of five centres being funded to provide
support to research bodies. EuPath supports the investigation of eukaryotic pathogens, and the other four centres support the investigation of other disease pathogens.
Component databases
EuPathDB consists of 14 component databases, each with a particular focus:
References
{{Reflist
Bioinformatics organizations
Genome databases
Pathogen genomics