UTRdb and UTRsite: specialized databases of sequences and functional elements of 5 ' and 3 ' untranslated regions of eukaryotic mRNAs

The-5' and 3' untranslated regions of eukaryotic mRNAs may play a crucial r ole in the regulation of gene expression controlling mRNA localization, sta bility and translational efficiency. For this reason we developed UTRdb, a specialized database of 5' end 3' untranslated sequences of eukaryotic mRNA s cleaned from redundancy. UTRdb entries are enriched with specialized info rmation not present in the primary databases including the presence of nucl eotide sequence patterns already demonstrated by experimental analysis to h ave some functional role. All these patterns have been collected in the UTR site database so that it is possible to search any input sequence for the p resence of annotated functional motifs, Furthermore, UTRdb entries have bee n annotated for the presence of repetitive elements. All internet resources implemented for retrieval and functional analysis of 5' and 3' untranslate d regions of eukaryotic mRNAs are accessible at http://bigarea.area.ba.cnr. it:8000/EmbIT/UTRHome/.