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Database Developed of Telomere Motifs From 9,000 Species

Researchers from Masaryk University in the Czech Republic have developed a database of telomere motifs found across more than 9,000 species. As they report in Nucleic Acids Research, the researchers conducted a literature screen using Google Scholar and analyzed publicly available sequencing datasets in NCBI to identify known and predicted telomere motifs to create their database, which they dubbed TeloBase. Using their database, the researchers examined telomere diversity among Aspergillus and found a (TAATTAGGG)n motif in A. taichungensis and (TTATTAGGG)n in A. transcarpathicus that appear to be novel motifs. They similarly found a new telomere sequence candidate (TTTATTAGGG)n in family of woody tropical plants that had previously been reported in red algae. New telomere motifs can be added to TeloBase by the community following peer-review by registered users, and problematic entries can be reported to administrators, the developers add. "TeloBase allows interactive manipulation and visualization of the data, as well as simple application and community curation of new entries," they write. "With these features, we envisage that TeloBase represents a solid and viable source of information about telomere motif diversity and telomere evolution for the future."

The Scan

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