Comparative Analyses of Plant Transcription Factor Databases tious in providing an extensive and well-put together data- base for TFs from 927 genomes. The strengths also include the fact that the website was just updated in July 2008 which is a clear indication of how well maintained and up-to-date the information is. The impressive features of this database are different types of search parameters that can be used to conduct a search (e.g. sequence ID, gene name, SUPERFA- MILY, Pfam, or by organism and DNA-binding domain name). The overall database and website are one of the best plant TF databases. THE DATABASE OF RICE TRANSCRIPTION FAC- TORS (DRTF) (CHINA) The Database of Rice Transcription Factors (DRTF) (http://drtf.cbi.pku.edu.cn/) [17] is a TFs database for Oryza Current Genomics, 2009, Vol. 10, No. 1 15 sativa L. ssp. Indica and Oryza sativa L. ssp. Japonica. This database contains information on 2025 putative (TF) gene models in Oryza sativa L. ssp. Indica and 2384 putative (TF) gene models in Oryza sativa L. ssp. Japonica and covers 63 TF families. Each TF family has a detail summary of the important information about the TF family along with a list of the genes, and domain alignment. The peptide sequence and CDS sequence downloads are available for both indica and japonica. The database shares homology with both the Arabidopsis (DATF) and Populus (DPTF) transcription fac- tor databases. A list of the family ‘loci’ and ‘gene model’ are available under each family. Gene models have a table setup similar to the family class, allowing for easy navigation. ‘Gene model’ offers: basic information, and a link to DPTF (discussed earlier). General structure of the website consist of a direct link to mother database Plant Transcription Factor Table 2. Comparison of Several Plant Transcription Factor Databases Name of the Database and Website Address RARTF (http://rarge.gsc.riken.jp/rartf/) Plant Transcription Factor Databases (http://planttfdb.cbi.pku.edu.cn/) Plant Transcription Factor Database (http://plntfdb.bio.uni-potsdam.de/v2.0/) Plant CARE (http://bioinformatics.psb.ugent.be/webtools/pla ntcare/html/ PLACE (http://www.dna.affrc.go.jp/PLACE/index.html) DATF (http://datf.cbi.pku.edu.cn/) DPTF (http://dptf.cbi.pku.edu.cn/) TOBFAC (http://compsysbio.achs.virginia.edu/tobfac/) Athamap (http://www.athamap.de/) DBD: Transcription factor prediction database (http://www.transcriptionfactor.org) DRTF http://drtf.cbi.pku.edu.cn/ Belgium Many plant species Country of Origin Japan China Germany Japan China China USA UK China Plant Species Covered Arabidopsis thaliana Arabidopsis thaliana, Populus trichocarpa, Oryza sativa Oryza sativa subsp. japonica, Arabidopsis thaliana, and Populus trichocarpa Vascular plants and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Arabidopsis thaliana Populus trichocarpa Nicotiana tabacum Arabidopsis thaliana, Zea mays, Oryza sativa, Populus trichocarpa, Sorghum bicolor, Vitis vinifera, Lotus japonicus Oryza sativa Germany Arabidopsis thaliana No Yes No No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Can the Database be Accessed Browsing Individual Chromosome? Can the User Search by Gene ID or Sequence Identifier? Is Data Download Possible? Was the Database Updated in 2007? No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes No Yes Yes No information available No Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No