Dictyostelium Community Infrastructure

• dictyBase

dictyBase is a web server that provides a centralized source of information about Dictyostelium.

The website contain:

• Information on individual genes (accessible through the Search tool located at the top right of every dictyBase page)
• Genomic information
• Protocols for Dictyostelium research
• Protocols for using Dictyostelium in teaching labs
• Phenotypes of gene deletion and REMI mutant strains
• Video images of cells
• dictyNews, that provides abstracts of papers accepted for publication; this newsletter is archived and is searchable.
• An Endnote and BibTex database of all published papers referencing Dictyostelium, maintained by Jakob Franke, Columbia University
• Links to other genomics information sites, including laboratories that use Dictyostelium in their research and the Dictyostelium genome project sites.

• Dicty Stock Center

A central strain repository maintains Dictyostelium strains and plasmids established in 2002 through the efforts of Jakob Franke and Richard Kessin from Columbia University, and now located at Northwestern University. The facility provides access to its materials to everyone. Availibility of strains from a central resource will encourage laboratories throughout the world to work on genetically identical and well-characterized strains. This facility will also assure that important biological material is preserved.

• Microarrays

The use of DNA arrays for the analysis of gene expression is an essential tool in functional genomics. Data from the genome and from the cDNA sequencing projects are being used to apply this tool to Dictyostelium. It is clear that centralization and coordination are necessary to avoid redundancy and to assure reproducibility. The Baylor College of Medicine group (Adam Kuspa and Gad Shaulsky) are in the process of assembling the uni-gene set from genomic DNA and from cDNA clones at the Baylor College of Medicine DNA Array Facility (Jeff Tollett, Director).