NMPDR
Rick Stevens, PI
Goals: The National
Microbial Pathogen Data Resource Center
(NMPDR) goal is to support existing and newly
developed techniques for comparative analysis
to obtain a deeper understanding of the
fundamental biology of a specific set of
pathogenic organisms, and to promote efforts to
counter the threats posed by these pathogens.
The resource will integrate hundreds (and,
eventually, thousands) of prokaryotic genomes
with existing and newly generated functional
data to support characterization and analysis of
Category B food and water-borne diarrheagenic
bacteria, Campylobacter jejuni, Vibrio cholerae,
Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio vulnnificus, and
Listeria monocytogenes. Also included are the
enterotoxin B producing Staphylococcus aureus,
as well as the re-emerging, antibiotic resistant
pathogens Streptococcus pneumoniae and
Streptococcus pyogenes (Group A Strep).
NMPDR will provide the advanced bioinformatics
environment needed to explicate the details of
the physiology of the pathogens, to clarify the
detailed variations that determine phenotype,
and to develop consistent interpretations of
functional data.
Significance: NMPDR is a Bioinformatics Resource Center that provides the advanced bioinformatics environment needed to identify genetic polymorphisms correlated with pathogenicity, drug resistance, morbidity, and infectivity. NMPDR is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) to support research in biodefense, emerging infectious diseases, and re-emerging pathogens. NMPDR is both a central repository for a wide variety of scientific data on these pathogenic microorganisms and a platform for software tools that support investigator-driven data analysis, such as the identification of potential targets for the development of vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. Collaborating on this project are researchers from the University of Chicago, the Fellowship for Interpretation of Genomes (FIG), Argonne National Laboratory, and the University of Illinois.
Accomplishments: NMPDR employs a strategy of subsystems annotation to provide researchers with corrected functional annotations in a structured biological context. Nearly 500 distinct subsystems have been developed to describe central and secondary metabolism, complex structures, and virulence or other phenotypes. NMPDR includes all essentially complete, public genomes that provide a rich context for comparative analysis. Below is an overview of the annotation status of the core groups of NMPDR pathogens.
