Download SMOR: A database and web analysis tool to

Wednesday, September 26
4:00 p.m. - SWIG Boardroom (CIT 241)
Daniel Udwary
Assistant Professor of Pharmacognosy
Department of Biomedical & Pharmaceutical Sciences
University of Rhode Island
"SMOR: A database and web analysis tool to identify bacterial secondary metabolism and enable
drug discovery"
Many species of bacteria, fungi and plants produce specialized biologically active small molecules
used in their natural environment for chemical defense, communication, pigmentation and metal
binding, and these so-called natural products, or secondary metabolites, are often collected and
utilized by man as pharmaceuticals (commonly antimicrobials and anticancer agents), as dyes, in
agriculture, or as inspiration or starting materials for complex chemical syntheses. By virtue of
evolutionary pre-selection by the producing organism, naturally derived compounds should be a rich
source of bioactive starting materials for drug discovery. Because the carbon or peptide skeletons of
natural product molecules are often biosynthesized by one of a relatively small number of enzyme
families, the genes responsible can be readily identified in the exponentially increasing number of
microbial genomes being sequenced, and in many cases partial chemical structures of the products of
these pathways can be predicted. Unfortunately, secondary metabolism genes are very often
overlooked or incorrectly annotated by automated genetic analysis tools because of their
evolutionary relationships to primary metabolic genes. Currently there is no specialized storehouse
for secondary metabolic gene cluster information, nor is there a dedicated online site for discussion
and critical analysis. To aid our drug discovery efforts, we have constructed SMOR, a Secondary
Metabolism Online Repository. The SMOR analysis software routinely searches for secondary
metabolism gene clusters within newly deposited genomes in NCBI's RefSeq resource, re-annotates
genes and domains, and stores the information in an easily-searchable MySQL database. Users may
examine, comment on, and discuss data through a user-friendly web interface. It is the intention
that by enabling community-wide involvement in analysis of microbial secondary metabolism,
SMOR will become a useful resource for early-stage drug discovery and biochemical
investigations. Database URL: http://www.secondarymetabolism.com
Hosted by Sorin Istrail