User:Echobase

link EchoBASE is a post-genomic database for the model bacterium Escherichia coli. What this means in laymans terms is basically that its a resource that has been created to integrate all our current knowledge about this bacterium to help us work out some of the bits we haven't figured out yet. E. coli has over 4000 genes, which are the elements that encode the proteins and RNAs that do just about everything inside the cell. However, although people have studied E. coli for about 50 years in the lab, functions for just over 2000 of these genes are well established leaving just as many again with no really clear functions. This database aims to bring together information from lots of different research groups around the world who are independently using different methods to study E. coli, which when integrated together can be very powerful in determining the functions of the remaining genes in this bacterium. A long term aim is to be able to understand all the parts of the bacterium and how they work and interact with each other so that whole process can be modelling on a computer which can be used to engineer E. coli to be more productive to the biotechnologists.