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DRASTIC—INSIGHTS: querying information in a plant gene expression database
1Abertay Centre for the Environment, University of Abertay Dundee Dundee DD1 1HG, Scotland, UK 2School of Computing and Creative Technologies, University of Abertay Dundee Dundee DD1 1HG, Scotland, UK 3Scottish Crop Research Institute, Invergowrie Dundee DD2 5DA, Scotland, UK 4School of Life Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University Glasgow G4 0BA, Scotland, UK
*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +44 1382 308000; Fax: +44 1382 308626; Email: davina.button{at}abertay.ac.uk
Received August 15, 2005. Revised October 27, 2005. Accepted October 27, 2005.
DRASTIC––Database Resource for the Analysis of Signal Transduction In Cells (http://www.drastic.org.uk/) has been created as a first step towards a data-based approach for constructing signal transduction pathways. DRASTIC is a relational database of plant expressed sequence tags and genes up- or down-regulated in response to various pathogens, chemical exposure or other treatments such as drought, salt and low temperature. More than 17700 records have been obtained from 306 treatments affecting 73 plant species from 512 peer-reviewed publications with most emphasis being placed on data from Arabidopsis thaliana. DRASTIC has been developed by the Scottish Crop Research Institute and the University of Abertay Dundee and allows rapid identification of plant genes that are up- or down-regulated by multiple treatments and those that are regulated by a very limited (or perhaps a single) treatment. The INSIGHTS (INference of cell SIGnaling HypoTheseS) suite of web-based tools allows intelligent data mining and extraction of information from the DRASTIC database. Potential response pathways can be visualized and comparisons made between gene expression patterns in response to various treatments. The knowledge gained informs plant signalling pathways and systems biology investigations.