Pre-GI: A global map of ontological links between horizontally transferred genomic islands in bacterial and archaeal genomes

Abstract

The Predicted Genomic Islands database (Pre-GI) is a comprehensive repository of prokaryotic genomic islands (islands, GIs) freely accessible at http://pregi.bi.up.ac.za/index. php. Pre-GI, Version 2015, catalogues 26 744 islands identified in 2407 bacterial/archaeal chromosomes and plasmids. It provides an easy-to-use interface which allows users the ability to query against the database with a variety of fields, parameters and associations. Pre-GI is constructed to be a web-resource for the analysis of ontological roads between islands and cartographic analysis of the global fluxes of mobile genetic elements through bacterial and archaeal taxonomic borders. Comparison of newly identified islands against Pre-GI presents an alternative avenue to identify their ontology, origin and relative time of acquisition. Pre-GI aims to aid research on horizontal transfer events and materials through providing data and tools for holistic investigation of migration of genes through ecological niches and taxonomic boundaries.