GABI-Kat SimpleSearch: an Arabidopsis thaliana T-DNA mutant database with detailed information for confirmed insertions

Insertional mutagenesis approaches, especially by T-DNA, play important roles in gene function studies of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. GABI-Kat SimpleSearch (http://www.GABI-Kat.de) is a Flanking Sequence Tag (FST)-based database for T-DNA insertion mutants generated by the GABI-Kat project. Currently, the database contains >108,000 mapped FSTs from approximately 64,000 lines which cover 64% of all annotated A.thaliana protein-coding genes. The web interface allows searching for relevant insertions by gene code, keyword, line identifier, GenBank accession number of the FST, and also by BLAST. A graphic display of the genome region around the gene or the FST assists users to select insertion lines of their interests. About 3500 insertions were confirmed in the offspring of the plant from which the original FST was generated, and the seeds of these lines are available from the Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Centre. The database now also contains additional information such as segregation data, gene-specific primers and confirmation sequences. This information not only helps users to evaluate the usefulness of the mutant lines, but also covers a big part of the molecular characterization of the insertion alleles.