DOE JGI releases IMG 2.0 with all genomes refreshed from RefSeq

WALNUT CREEK, CA—Version 2.0 of the Integrated Microbial Genomes (IMG) data management system of the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) has been released to the public. The content of IMG 2.0 has been entirely refreshed and extended with the latest versions of genomes available from the National Center for Biotechnology Information's (NCBI) Reference Sequence collection (RefSeq).

IMG 2.0 features the following enhancements:

• 1541 new public microbial, viral and eukaryotic genomes were added to IMG 2.0, bringing the total to 2301 genomes (595 bacterial, 32archaeal, 13 eukaryotic genomes, and 1661 viruses) of which 2058 are finished and 243 are draft.

• 79 finished and 98 draft genomes sequenced by DOE JGI, bringing this total to 177 microbial genomes generated in-house.

IMG 2.0 extensions include gene-based links to NCBI's Entrez Gene, and other microbial genome systems, such as Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's MicrobesOnline and Argonne National Laboratory's PUMA.

IMG, accessible to the public at http://img.jgi.doe.gov/, is the result of a collaboration between the DOE JGI and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Biological Data Management and Technology Center (BDMTC). IMG is updated on a quarterly basis with new public and JGI genomes. The next update is scheduled for March 1, 2007.

The DOE Joint Genome Institute, supported by the DOE Office of Science, unites the expertise of five national laboratories, Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, and Pacific Northwest, along with the Stanford Human Genome Center to advance genomics in support of the DOE mission related to clean energy generation and environmental characterization and clean-up. DOE JGI's Walnut Creek, Calif. Production Genomics Facility provides integrated high-throughput sequencing and computational analysis that enable systems-based scientific approaches to these challenges. Additional information about DOE JGI can be found at: http://www.jgi.doe.gov/.