The Viral Bioinformatics Resource Center (VBRC) is an online resource providing access to a database of curated viral genomes and a variety of tools for bioinformatic genome analysis. This resource is one of eight BRCs (Bioinformatics Resource Centers) funded by NIAID with the goal of promoting research against emerging and re-emerging pathogens, particularly those seen as potential bioterrorism threats. The VBRC is supported by researchers at the University of Victoria and University of Alabama at Birmingham.
The curated VBRC database contains all publicly available genomic sequences for seven of the virus families covered under the NIAID initiative, together with an additional six families specific to VBRC. A unique aspect of this resource relative to other genomic databases is its grouping of all annotated genes into ortholog groups (i.e. protein families) based on pre-run BLASTP sequence similarity searches.
The curated database is accessed through VOCS (Viral Orthologous Clusters), a downloadable Java-based user interface, and acts as the central information source for other programs of the VBRC workbench. These programs serve a variety of bioinformatic analysis functions (whole- or subgenome alignments, genome display, and several types of gene/protein sequence analysis). The majority of these tools are programmed to take user-supplied input as well.
Read more about Viral Bioinformatics Resource Center: Virus Families Covered in The VBRC Database, Organization of The VBRC Database, Central Tools Provided By VBRC, Other Tools Provided By VBRC, See Also
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