Moreland, R TNguyen, Anh-DaoRyan, Joseph FSchnitzler, Christine EKoch, Bernard JSiewert, KatherineWolfsberg, Tyra GBaxevanis, Andreas D2014-05-132014-05-132014-04-28BMC Genomics. 2014 Apr 28;15(1):316http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-15-316https://hdl.handle.net/2139/38180Abstract Background Mnemiopsis leidyi is a ctenophore native to the coastal waters of the western Atlantic Ocean. A number of studies on Mnemiopsis have led to a better understanding of many key biological processes, and these studies have contributed to the emergence of Mnemiopsis as an important model for evolutionary and developmental studies. Recently, we sequenced, assembled, annotated, and performed a preliminary analysis on the 150-megabase genome of the ctenophore, Mnemiopsis. This sequencing effort has produced the first set of whole-genome sequencing data on any ctenophore species and is amongst the first wave of projects to sequence an animal genome de novo solely using next-generation sequencing technologies. Description The Mnemiopsis Genome Project Portal (http://research.nhgri.nih.gov/mnemiopsis/) is intended both as a resource for obtaining genomic information on Mnemiopsis through an intuitive and easy-to-use interface and as a model for developing customized Web portals that enable access to genomic data. The scope of data available through this Portal goes well beyond the sequence data available through GenBank, providing key biological information not available elsewhere, such as pathway and protein domain analyses; it also features a customized genome browser for data visualization. Conclusions We expect that the availability of these data will allow investigators to advance their own research projects aimed at understanding phylogenetic diversity and the evolution of proteins that play a fundamental role in metazoan development. The overall approach taken in the development of this Web site can serve as a viable model for disseminating data from whole-genome sequencing projects, framed in a way that best-serves the specific needs of the scientific community.Journal Article2014-05-13enR Travis Moreland et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.