title: Rice-Map: a new-generation rice genome browser.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The concurrent release of rice genome sequences for two subspecies (Oryza sativa L. ssp. japonica and Oryza sativa L. ssp. indica) facilitates rice studies at the whole genome level. Since the advent of high-throughput analysis, huge amounts of functional genomics data have been delivered rapidly, making an integrated online genome browser indispensable for scientists to visualize and analyze these data. Based on next-generation web technologies and high-throughput experimental data, we have developed Rice-Map, a novel genome browser for researchers to navigate, analyze and annotate rice genome interactively.
  
  
  METHODS
  More than one hundred annotation tracks (81 for japonica and 82 for indica) have been compiled and loaded into Rice-Map. These pre-computed annotations cover gene models, transcript evidences, expression profiling, epigenetic modifications, inter-species and intra-species homologies, genetic markers and other genomic features. In addition to these pre-computed tracks, registered users can interactively add comments and research notes to Rice-Map as User-Defined Annotation entries. By smoothly scrolling, dragging and zooming, users can browse various genomic features simultaneously at multiple scales. On-the-fly analysis for selected entries could be performed through dedicated bioinformatic analysis platforms such as WebLab and Galaxy. Furthermore, a BioMart-powered data warehouse "Rice Mart" is offered for advanced users to fetch bulk datasets based on complex criteria.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Rice-Map delivers abundant up-to-date japonica and indica annotations, providing a valuable resource for both computational and bench biologists. Rice-Map is publicly accessible at http://www.ricemap.org/, with all data available for free downloading.
authors: Center for Bioinformatics, National Laboratory of Protein Engineering and Plant Genetic Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China.
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Wang
authors: Lei
authors: L
authors: Kong
authors: Shuqi
authors: S
authors: Zhao
authors: He
authors: H
authors: Zhang
authors: Liang
authors: L
authors: Tang
authors: Zhe
authors: Z
authors: Li
authors: Xiaocheng
authors: X
authors: Gu
authors: Jingchu
authors: J
authors: Luo
authors: Ge
authors: G
authors: Gao
mesh_terms: D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D057890:Epigenomics; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D017343:Genes, Plant; D005819:Genetic Markers; D018745:Genome, Plant; D020407:Internet; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D012275:Oryza / Q000235:genetics*; D012984:Software; D014584:User-Computer Interface
chemical_list: D018744:DNA, Plant; D005819:Genetic Markers