title: Lotus Base: An integrated information portal for the model legume Lotus japonicus.
abstract: Lotus japonicus is a well-characterized model legume widely used in the study of plant-microbe interactions. However, datasets from various Lotus studies are poorly integrated and lack interoperability. We recognize the need for a comprehensive repository that allows comprehensive and dynamic exploration of Lotus genomic and transcriptomic data. Equally important are user-friendly in-browser tools designed for data visualization and interpretation. Here, we present Lotus Base, which opens to the research community a large, established LORE1 insertion mutant population containing an excess of 120,000 lines, and serves the end-user tightly integrated data from Lotus, such as the reference genome, annotated proteins, and expression profiling data. We report the integration of expression data from the L. japonicus gene expression atlas project, and the development of tools to cluster and export such data, allowing users to construct, visualize, and annotate co-expression gene networks. Lotus Base takes advantage of modern advances in browser technology to deliver powerful data interpretation for biologists. Its modular construction and publicly available application programming interface enable developers to tap into the wealth of integrated Lotus data. Lotus Base is freely accessible at: https://lotus.au.dk.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Gustav Wieds Vej 10, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Terry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mun
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Gustav Wieds Vej 10, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.|Bioinformatics Research Centre, Aarhus University, C. F. Møllers Allé 8, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Asger
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bachmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Gustav Wieds Vej 10, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.|Bioinformatics Research Centre, Aarhus University, C. F. Møllers Allé 8, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Vikas
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Gustav Wieds Vej 10, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stougaard
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Gustav Wieds Vej 10, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Stig U
authors.initials: SU
authors.lastname: Andersen
mesh_terms: D015870:Gene Expression / Q000235:genetics; D018745:Genome, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods; D000070116:Lotus / Q000235:genetics*; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional / Q000235:genetics; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics