proTF: a comprehensive data and phylogenomics resource for prokaryotic transcription factors.

Abstract

Investigation of transcription factors (TFs) is of extreme significance for gleaning more information about the mechanisms underlying the dynamic transcriptional regulatory network. Herein, proTF is constructed to serve as a comprehensive data resource and phylogenomics analysis platform for prokaryotic TFs. It has many prominent characteristics: (i) detailed annotation information, including basic sequence features, domain organization, sequence homolog and sequence composition, was extensively collected, and then visually displayed for each TF entry in all prokaryotic genomes; (ii) workset was employed as the basic frame to provide an efficient way to organize the retrieved data and save intermediate records; and (iii) a number of elaborated tools for phylogenomics analysis were implemented to investigate the evolutionary roles of specific TFs. In conclusion, proTF dedicates to the prokaryotic TFs with integrated multi-function, which will become a valuable resource for prokaryotic transcriptional regulatory network in the post-genomic era. http://centre.bioinformatics.zj.cn/proTF.