Animal-associated enterobacteria have dominated the genome sequencing arena for some time, but they represent only a fraction of the lifestyle diversity present in this family. Plant pathogenic enterobacteria, were totally unsampled until the Pectobacterium atrosepticum (Erwinia carotovora atroseptica) genome sequence was published in 2004. Currently GEL personnel and collaborators are working on genome projects for a number of additional plant-associated enterobacteria including Dickeya dadantii, Erwinia amylovora, Pantoea stewartii, Pectobacterium carotovorum, and Pectobacterium brasiliensis. Individually, each genome illuminates the biology of an agriculturally significant pathogen. Collectively, they provide an unprecedented opportunity to study evolution of host specialization and plant-microbe interaction.

Genome sequencing and high-throughput experimentation are generating unprecedented volumes of data on human and animal pathogens that remains to be translated into improved approaches to prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease. The size and complexity of these data, as well as the diversity and complexity of analysis tools, can pose significant barriers for biomedical researchers seeking to use this information for basic research or development of novel vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics. In recognition of this, the NIH-NIAID established eight Bioinformatics Resource Centers (BRCs), to provide integrated access to tools and data for pathogens on the Select Agent List. GEL personnel and our partners SRA, International were selected to develop a BRC for pathogenic enterobacteria called the Enteropathogen Resource Integration Center (ERIC-BRC).

Upon completion, the ERIC-BRC portal will provide integrated access to genome sequences, updated and updateable annotations, primary literature, pathways, transcriptional units, gene expression data, proteomics data, and comparative genomics data, as well as access to suite of analysis tools. The multi-user annotation platform that underlies the ERIC-BRC genome annotations is the ASAP system, developed by GEL personnel. The ERIC-BRC implementation of ASAP and the one at UW with broader taxonomic scope are synchronized daily providing two mechanisms to access public data from genomes of enterobacteria. A team of genome curators at UW are actively updating, correcting and augmenting the published genome annotations for these pathogens. We also maintain updated genome comparisons, predicted orthologs between genomes, as well as multiple alignments created using Mauve.

The most current version of ERIC-BRC is always available at the ERIC web site: www.ericbrc.org.