Journal article
ArachnoServer: A database of protein toxins from spiders
BMC Genomics, Vol.10, 375
2009
Abstract
Background: Venomous animals incapacitate their prey using complex venoms that can contain hundreds of unique protein toxins. The realisation that many of these toxins may have pharmaceutical and insecticidal potential due to their remarkable potency and selectivity against target receptors has led to an explosion in the number of new toxins being discovered and characterised. From an evolutionary perspective, spiders are the most successful venomous animals and they maintain by far the largest pool of toxic peptides. However, at present, there are no databases dedicated to spider toxins and hence it is difficult to realise their full potential as drugs, insecticides, and pharmacological probes. Description: We have developed ArachnoServer, amanually curated database that provides detailed information about proteinaceous toxins from spiders. Key features of ArachnoServer include a new molecular target ontology designed especially for venom toxins, the most up-to-date taxonomic information available, and a powerful advanced search interface. Toxin information can be browsed through dynamic trees, and each toxin has a dedicated page summarising all available information about its sequence, structure, and biological activity. ArachnoServer currently manages 567 protein sequences, 334 nucleic acid sequences, and 51 protein structures. Conclusion: ArachnoServer provides a single source of high-quality information about proteinaceous spider toxins that will be an invaluable resource for pharmacologists, neuroscientists, toxinologists, medicinal chemists, ion channel scientists, clinicians, and structural biologists. ArachnoServer is available online at http://www.arachnoserver.org.
Details
- Title
- ArachnoServer: A database of protein toxins from spiders
- Authors
- D L A Wood (Author) - University of QueenslandT Miljenović (Author) - University of QueenslandS Cai (Author) - University of QueenslandR J Raven (Author) - University of QueenslandQ Kaas (Author) - University of QueenslandP Escoubas (Author) - Institut de Pharmacologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, FranceVolker Herzig (Author) - University of QueenslandD Wilson (Author) - University of QueenslandG F King (Author) - University of Queensland
- Publication details
- BMC Genomics, Vol.10, 375; 8
- Publisher
- BioMed Central Ltd.
- Date published
- 2009
- DOI
- 10.1186/1471-2164-10-375
- ISSN
- 1471-2164
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2009 Wood et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Centre for Bioinnovation
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99450823702621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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