REPEATOME: A Database for Repeat Element ComparativeAnalysis in Human and Chimpanzee

Abstract

An increasing number of primate genomes are being sequenced. A direct comparison of repeat elements in human genes and their corresponding chimpanzee orthologs will not only give information on their evolution, but also shed light on the major evolutionary events that shaped our species. We have developed REPEATOME to enable visualization and subsequent comparisons of human and chimpanzee repeat elements.REPEATOME (htp:/www.repeatome.org/) provides human genome, as well as repeat element-associated information. It provides a convenient and effective way to aces the repeat elements within or spanning the functional regions in human and chimpanzee genome sequences. REPEATOME includes information to compare repeat elements and gene structures of human genes and their counterparts in chimpanzee. This database can be acesed using comparative search options such as intersection, union, and diference to find lineage-specific or common repeat elements.REPEATOME allows researchers to perform visualization chimpanzee. Availability:REPEATOME is freely available at http:/w. repeatome.org. The web interface of REPEATOME is supported with JAVA and java scripts that enable formulation of queries against the database. Results are displayed either in tabulated or graphical formats.