Alliance is a consortium of the major model organism databases and the Gene Ontology that is guided by the vision of facilitating exploration of related genes in human and well-studied model organisms by providing an integrated and comprehensive platform enabling researchers to leverage the extensive body of genetic and genomic studies in these organisms. The Alliance is building a central portal for access to data for the primary model organisms along with gene ontology data and human data. All data types represented in the Alliance have common data models and workflows for curation. All data are open and freely available. Long-term plans for the Alliance project include a focus on coverage of additional model organisms including those without dedicated curation communities, and the inclusion of new data types with a particular focus on providing data and tools for the non-model-organism researcher that support enhanced discovery about human health and disease.
NAR’s Breakthrough Articles present high-impact studies answering long-standing questions in the field of nucleic acids research and/or opening up new areas and mechanistic hypotheses for investigation. These articles are chosen by the Editors on the recommendation of Editorial Board Members and Referees. Articles are accompanied by a brief synopsis explaining the findings of the paper and where they fit in the broader context of nucleic acids research. They represent the very best papers published at NAR.
The Structural Classification of Proteins (SCOP) database is a classification of protein domains organised according to their evolutionary and structural relationships. We report a major effort to increase the coverage of structural data, aiming to provide classification of almost all domain superfamilies with representatives in the PDB. We have also improved the database schema, provided a new API and modernised the web interface. This is by far the most significant update in coverage since SCOP 1.75 and builds on the advances in schema from the SCOP 2 prototype. The database is accessible from http://scop.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk.
Non-homologous end joining is a means to repair DNA that is damaged due to double-stranded breaks. At an early stage during this DNA repair process, the protein 53BP1 is recruited to the site of damaged DNA. This study reveals a novel mechanism for regulation of 53BP1 recognition of damaged DNA that occurs through a newly identified post-translational modification of histone protein within chromatin. It contributes important details of a novel global cellular regulation system in repair of damaged DNA.
