Lbm. Ellis et al., The University of Minnesota biocatalysis/biodegradation Database: specialized metabolism for functional genomics, NUCL ACID R, 27(1), 1999, pp. 373-376
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.