The University of Minnesota biocatalysis/biodegradation Database: specialized metabolism for functional genomics

The University of Minnesota Biocatalysis/Biodegradation Database (UM-BBD, h ttp://www.labmed.umn.edu/umbbd/index.html) first became available on the we b in 1995 to provide information on microbial biocatalytic reactions of, an d biodegradation pathways for, organic chemical compounds, especially those produced by man. Its goal is to become a representative database of biodeg radation, spanning the diversity of known microbial metabolic routes, organ ic functional groups, and environmental conditions under which biodegradati on occurs, The database can be used to enhance understanding of basic bioch emistry, biocatalysis leading to speciality chemical manufacture, and biode gradation of environmental pollutants, It is also a resource for functional genomics, since it contains information on enzymes and genes involved in s pecialized metabolism not found in intermediary metabolism databases, and t hus can assist in assigning functions to genes homologous to such less comm on genes, With information on >400 reactions and compounds, it is poised to become a resource for prediction of microbial biodegradation pathways for compounds it does not contain, a process complementary to predicting the fu nctions of new classes of microbial genes.