BMC Genomics 2006, 7:154 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/7/154 CS sequenced the cDNA libraries. TES participated and coordinated the creation of the EST database. BB created the EST database. DT annotated the sequences in the EST libraries. All authors read and approved the final manu- script. Additional material Additional File 1 Figure S1 – GO Biological Process (BP). A. A histogram illustrating the breakdown of GO/BP annotated ESTs in each of BP first level subcatego- ries. B. Top refers to the distribution of ESTs in 3 first level categories, cel- lular process (CP), physiological process (PP) and development (D). Bottom refers to the distribution of ESTs in three lower level categories from CP, signal transduction/cell surface receptor linked signal transduc- tion, PP, response to stimulus and D, morphogenesis. Click here for file [http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/supplementary/1471- 2164-7-154-S1.tiff] Additional File 2 Figure S2 – GO Molecular Function (MF). A. A histogram illustrating the breakdown of GO/MF annotated ESTs in each of MF first level sub- categories. B. Refers to the distribution of ESTs in 3 first level categories, binding, catalytic and structural. Click here for file [http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/supplementary/1471- 2164-7-154-S2.tiff] Additional File 3 Figure S3 – GO Cellular Component (CC). A. A histogram illustrating the breakdown of GO/CC annotated ESTs in each of CC first level sub- categories. B. Left refers to the distribution of ESTs in one of the first level categories, cell. Middle and right refer to the distribution of ESTs in two lower level categories from cell, membrane and intracellular. Click here for file [http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/supplementary/1471- 2164-7-154-S3.tiff] Additional File 4 Figure S4 – Venn diagram of commonly annotated sequences in E. scolopes, H. sapiens, D. melanogaster, and C. elegans. Annotation of E. scolopes nonredundant sequences using an E-value threshold of e- 50. The numbers of homologous genes identified are represented in each section of the Venn diagram and the total number of sequences used in this comparison is listed under the name of each organism. Click here for file [http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/supplementary/1471- 2164-7-154-S4.tiff] Acknowledgements This work was supported by a grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation. CKC received support from NIH T32 AI55397. TES was partially supported through a Career Development Award from Research to Prevent Blind- ness. We acknowledge the assistance and support of the UI CLCG sequence processing group including Brian O'Leary, Michael Smith, Chris- topher Moressi, Barry Gackle, Brian Mokrzycki, Dylan Tack, and A. Jason Grundstad. We acknowledge the assistance of Hana Itani, Mindee Perdue, and Kelly Schaefer with template preparation. We appreciate the assistance of Kurtis Trout with clone arraying, re-arraying, and replicating. 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