WALNUT CREEK, CA–The fourth version of the Integrated Microbial Genomes (IMG) data management system of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI) has been made available to the public. The new version, IMG 1.3, contains 42 additional genomes sequenced by other institutions and 20 new genomes sequenced by DOE JGI, bringing the total number of genomes in IMG to 674 (373 bacterial, 26 archeal, 15 eukaryotic, 260 viral), of which 44 are finished and 90 are draft genomes sequenced by DOE JGI.
Organism phenotype, ecotype, disease, and relevance characterizations collected from literature have been added to IMG 1.3. The new version also features enhanced comparative analysis capabilities, including extended Analysis Carts and improved functional profiles across organisms.
IMG, accessible to the public at http://img.jgi.doe.gov/, is a collaborative effort between the DOE JGI and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Biological Data Management and Technology Center (BDMTC).
IMG is updated on a quarterly basis with new public and DOE JGI genomes. The next update is scheduled for March 1st, 2006.
The DOE Joint Genome Institute, supported primarily by the DOE Office of Science, is among the world leaders in whole-genome sequencing projects devoted to microbes and microbial communities, model system vertebrates, aquatic organisms, and plants. Established in 1997, DOE JGI now unites the expertise of five national laboratories, Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, and Pacific Northwest, along with the Stanford Human Genome Center to advance the frontiers of genome sequencing and related biology.