Crop> pedia

For many years already, the availability of bioinformatics tools in molecular plant breeding is growing in order to manage big data and to support researchers in the analysis of their genetic and genomic data. It is obvious that the true limitation is not the number of bioinformatics publications, the attention bioinformatics receives or the number of available tools but mainly the practical implementation and adoption of those tools by experts from different domains. These limitations can be counteracted by building dedicated and integrated tools and data frameworks focused on having low user thresholds, high transparency and dedicated applications, next to being complete by combining insights from different bioinformatics disciplines.

According to this philosophy, we have built <Crop>Pedia. For marker development and genome research, this is a platform that contains several data analysis and visualization tools as well as an integrated collection of crop specific heterogeneous data in a logical context (sequences, genetic maps, QTLs, variances and gene expression networks). Crucial elements in the <Crop>Pedia design are that users can easily add new data to the collection of starting data but also allows them to easily combine forward and reverse genetics as well as to link quantitative gene expression analysis to the underlying genome and genes with only a few mouse clicks.

<Crop>Pedia uses well-known public tools (e.g. GBrowse) and new technologies that have been developed in cooperation with several breeding companies. It is the perfect tool for private companies and consortia researchers to efficiently manage and mine genomic related data.