A database for ITS2 sequences from nematodes

Abstract

Background: Marker gene surveys have a wide variety of applications in species identification, population genetics, and molecular epidemiology. As these methods expand to new types of organisms and additional markers beyond 16S and 18S rRNA genes, comprehensive databases are a critical requirement for proper analysis of these data. Results: Here we present an ITS2 rDNA database for marker gene surveys of both free-living and parasitic nematode populations and the software used to build the database. This is currently the most complete and up-to-date ITS2 database for nematodes and is able to reproduce previous analysis that used a smaller database. Conclusions: This database is an important resource for researchers working on nematodes and also provides a tool to create ITS2 databases for any given taxonomy.