title: CEG: a database of essential gene clusters.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Essential genes are indispensable for the survival of living entities. They are the cornerstones of synthetic biology, and are potential candidate targets for antimicrobial and vaccine design.
  
  
  METHODS
  Here we describe the Cluster of Essential Genes (CEG) database, which contains clusters of orthologous essential genes. Based on the size of a cluster, users can easily decide whether an essential gene is conserved in multiple bacterial species or is species-specific. It contains the similarity value of every essential gene cluster against human proteins or genes. The CEG_Match tool is based on the CEG database, and was developed for prediction of essential genes according to function. The database is available at http://cefg.uestc.edu.cn/ceg.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Properties contained in the CEG database, such as cluster size, and the similarity of essential gene clusters against human proteins or genes, are very important for evolutionary research and drug design. An advantage of CEG is that it clusters essential genes based on function, and therefore decreases false positive results when predicting essential genes in comparison with using the similarity alignment method.
authors.forename: Yuan-Nong
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Zhi-Gang
authors.initials: ZG
authors.lastname: Hua
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Nini
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.affiliation: Center of Bioinformatics and Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China. fbguo@uestc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Feng-Biao
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D020043:Genes, Essential; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D046228:Microarray Analysis; D012984:Software; D013045:Species Specificity