Research Article
Olivier Croce, Francois Cheven
Abstract
Small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) gene sequences are now widely used to identify microbial organisms.\r\nHowever, the public databases now comprise mostly rRNA gene sequences resulting from PCR and cloning of DNA\r\nisolated from environmental samples. Most of these sequences are poorly annotated and do not bear proper taxonomic\r\nassignments. As a result, this fl ood of sequences makes routine identifi cations often very tedious.\r\nWe propose a new web server for fast and reliable identifi cations of microbial isolates. It allows retrieving related\r\nsequences and their taxonomies, in order to proceed to phylogenetic analyses. This web tool is based on specifi c\r\ndatabases of cultured species for Bacteria, Archaea and Protozoa. In addition, various data helping the identifi cation\r\nprocedure can be downloaded. The server also includes online software to automatically display annotated phylogenetic\r\ntrees.