UNITE: a database providing web-based methods for the molecular identification of ectomycorrhizal fungi

TY - JOUR

T1 - UNITE: a database providing web-based methods for the molecular identification of ectomycorrhizal fungi

AU - Köljalg, U.

AU - Larsson, K.H.

AU - Abarenkov, K.

AU - Nilsson, H.R.

AU - Alexander, I.J.

AU - Eberhardt, U.

AU - Erland, S.

AU - Høiland, Klaus

AU - Kjøller, Rasmus

AU - Larsson, Ellen

AU - Pennanen, Taina

AU - Sen, Robin

AU - Taylor, Andy F. S.

AU - Tedersoo, Leho

AU - Vrålstad, Trude

AU - Ursing, Björn M.

N1 - KEYWORDS DNA taxonomy • ectomycorrhiza • fungi • molecular identification • sequence database • UNITE

PY - 2005

Y1 - 2005

N2 - Identification of ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi is often achieved through comparisons of ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences with accessioned sequences deposited in public databases. A major problem encountered is that annotation of the sequences in these databases is not always complete or trustworthy. In order to overcome this deficiency, we report on UNITE, an open-access database.•  UNITE comprises well annotated fungal ITS sequences from well defined herbarium specimens that include full herbarium reference identification data, collector/source and ecological data. At present UNITE contains 758 ITS sequences from 455 species and 67 genera of ECM fungi.•  UNITE can be searched by taxon name, via sequence similarity using blastn, and via phylogenetic sequence identification using galaxie. Following implementation, galaxie performs a phylogenetic analysis of the query sequence after alignment either to pre-existing generic alignments, or to matches retrieved from a blast search on the UNITE data. It should be noted that the current version of UNITE is dedicated to the reliable identification of ECM fungi.•  The UNITE database is accessible through the URL http://unite.zbi.ee

AB - Identification of ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi is often achieved through comparisons of ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences with accessioned sequences deposited in public databases. A major problem encountered is that annotation of the sequences in these databases is not always complete or trustworthy. In order to overcome this deficiency, we report on UNITE, an open-access database.•  UNITE comprises well annotated fungal ITS sequences from well defined herbarium specimens that include full herbarium reference identification data, collector/source and ecological data. At present UNITE contains 758 ITS sequences from 455 species and 67 genera of ECM fungi.•  UNITE can be searched by taxon name, via sequence similarity using blastn, and via phylogenetic sequence identification using galaxie. Following implementation, galaxie performs a phylogenetic analysis of the query sequence after alignment either to pre-existing generic alignments, or to matches retrieved from a blast search on the UNITE data. It should be noted that the current version of UNITE is dedicated to the reliable identification of ECM fungi.•  The UNITE database is accessible through the URL http://unite.zbi.ee

U2 - 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2005.01376.x

DO - 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2005.01376.x

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 15869663

SN - 0028-646X

VL - 166

SP - 1063

EP - 1068

JO - New Phytologist

JF - New Phytologist

IS - 3

ER -