VectorBase is one of the five
Bioinformatics Resource Centers (BRC) funded by the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, ) is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. NIAID's mis ...
(NIAID), a component of the
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...
(NIH), which is an agency of the
United States Department of Health and Human Services
The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the US federal government created to protect the health of the US people and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...
. VectorBase is focused on invertebrate vectors of
human pathogen
A human pathogen is a pathogen (microbe or microorganism such as a virus, bacterium, prion, or fungus) that causes disease in humans.
The human physiological defense against common pathogens (such as ''Pneumocystis'') is mainly the responsibility ...
s working with the sequencing centers and the research community to curate vector genomes (mainly
genome annotation).
Genomes covered in the VectorBase database
* ''
Aedes aegypti
''Aedes aegypti'' ( or from Greek 'hateful' and from Latin, meaning 'of Egypt'), sometimes called the Egyptian mosquito, dengue mosquito or yellow fever mosquito, is a mosquito that spreads diseases like dengue fever, yellow fever, malar ...
''
* ''
Anopheles gambiae
The ''Anopheles gambiae'' complex consists of at least seven morphologically indistinguishable species of mosquitoes in the genus ''Anopheles''. The complex was recognised in the 1960s and includes the most important vectors of malaria in sub- ...
''
* ''
Culex quinquefasciatus
''Culex quinquefasciatus'' (originally named ''Culex fatigans''), commonly known as the southern house mosquito, is a medium-sized mosquito found in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. It is a vector of ''Wuchereria bancrofti'', avian ...
''
* ''
Ixodes scapularis
''Ixodes scapularis'' is a hard-bodied tick found in much of the eastern half of North America. It is commonly known as the deer tick, owing to its habit of parasitizing the white-tailed deer. It is also sometimes known as the black-legged tick ( ...
''
* ''
Pediculus humanus
''Pediculus humanus'' is a species of louse that infects humans. It comprises two subspecies:
*''Pediculus humanus humanus'' Linnaeus, 1758 – body louse
*''Pediculus humanus capitis'' De Geer, 1767 – head louse
The head louse (''Pediculu ...
''
* ''
Rhodnius prolixus''
Tools available through the VectorBase site
* Genome browser
* Community annotation system
* Microarray and gene expression repository
* Controlled vocabularies for anatomy,
and vector-borne diseases (malaria and dengue fever)
* BLAST searches for all covered genomes
See also
*
Vectors in epidemiology
References
External links
vectorbase.orgThe NIAID page describing the goals and activities of the BRCs
Pathogen PortalHub site for the five BRCs; provides summary information
;VectorBase genome browsers
''Aedes aegypti'' genome browserat VectorBase
''Anopheles gambiae'' genome browserat VectorBase
''Culex quinquefasciatus'' genome browserat VectorBase
''Ixodes scapularis'' genome browserat VectorBase
''Pediculus humanus'' genome browserat VectorBase
''Rhodnius prolixus'' genome browserat VectorBase
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Biological databases
Online databases
Biology websites
Epidemiology organizations