Sift-PULs: A public repository for specific functional polysaccharide utilization loci

Abstract

BackgroundPolysaccharide utilization loci (PULs) were bacterial gene clusters encoding genes responsible for polysaccharide utilization process. PUL studies are blooming in recent years but the biochemical characterization speed is relative slow. There is a growing demand for PUL database with function annotations. ResultsUsing signature genes corresponding for specific polysaccharide, 10422 PULs specific for 6 polysaccharides (agar, alginate, pectin, carrageenan, chitin and {beta}-manan) from various bacterial phyla were predicted. Then online website of specific functional polysaccharide utilization loci (Sift-PULs) was constructed. Sift-PULs provides a repository where users could browse, search and download interested PULs without registration. ConclusionsThe key advantage of Sift-PULs is to assign a function annotation of each PUL, which is not available in existing PUL databases. PULs functional annotation lays a foundation for studying novel enzymes, new pathways, PUL evolution or bioengineering. The website is available on https://sift-puls.org