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1 Browse


At present, 274 kinds of plants, 324 corresponding genomes,414 herbs (different parts from the same plant), and 13809 ingredients, together with the related information on plant species, genomes, herbal medicines, and ingredients were included in TCMPG.


1-1 Full list

Users can quickly view the list of all plants, genomes, herbs, and ingredients in TCMPG through the "Browse" button on the toolbar.


1-2 Details page

The detailed information about each plant, genome, herb, and ingredient was displayed in three types of report pages. Users can visit relevant pages through internal links in the full list page or search results page.


2 Search


Users can input TCMPG ID, Latin name, herb name, ingredient name, gene ID, GO, KEGG, Pfam, SMART, PANTHER, or functional annotation keywords in the search bar for quick search.


2-1 Search Tips

The search page provides two drop-down options and an input box. The first drop-down option contains the Latin names of all species in the database. Users can directly select the species they want to view and click the search button to search. The second drop-down option is the search field, users can select a field, and then enter a keyword in the third input box to perform the search.

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Some search examples are provided on the right side of the page, and the word cloud on the page can also be clicked to view.


2-2 Search Result

Search results will be redirected to the detail page of the corresponding entry.


3 Tools


TCMPG embedded nine analysis tools, including BLAST, JBrowse, SSR Finder, Synteny Viewer, HmmSearch, Heatmap, Primer3, PlantiSMASH, and CRISPRCasFinder.


3-1 BLAST

The BLAST was based on the SequenceServer application, where users can search the list of genes of interest.

Learn more about BLAST
NCBI BLAST Home page


3-1-1 Perform


The following shows the interface to run BLAST, users only need four steps to perform a BLAST search.

blast1

Step 1. Upload the query sequences
To perform a sequence search, users can paste their sequences in the query region or drag a sequence file (<10Mb) to the query region. The sequence type (protein/nucleotides) can be automatically detected.
Note: Original sequences or multiple fasta formats are supported when pasting from the clipboard, but sequences uploaded from a file can only be in fasta format. Learn more about fasta format here.
Step 2. Select databases
After uploading query sequences, users can select one or more databases to search.
Note: Only one type of database (Nucleotide or Protein) can be selected.
Step 3. Select parameters
The "Advanced parameters" input box allows users to run BLAST with their custom parameters. Users could click on the “?” button to view the available parameters. If users leave the box empty, the default parameters will be used.
Learn more about BLAST parameters here.
Step 4. Perform BLAST
After completing the previous steps, the BLAST button will automatically change to the corresponding BLAST subroutine (BLASTn, BLASTx, BLASTp, etc.) depending on the query sequence and the type of database. Click on the BLAST button to perform the analysis, and users will see a status page like this:

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After the BLAST is done, it will automatically lead users to the result page.


3-1-2 Result


Below is an example of the BLAST result page, the result page can be generally divided into 5 sections:

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Section A: Category of query sequences
This section indicates the result of each sequence of the query sequence. Clicking on the query sequence ID will lead users to the details of the query sequence.

Section B: General information
This section contains the general information of the mission, including the version of the program, the submitting time, the database information, and the parameters used.

Section C: Queries and their top hits: chord diagram
This section is a chord diagram that represents the mapping information between the query sequence and similar sequences in the database. Hovering over the ribbon will display the identity and E-value of this alignment.

blastresultC

Section D: Download Category
This section allows users to download all or the selected results in different formats to their local machine.

Section E: BLAST hits information

1. Graphical overview of hits
This part shows the BLAST hits for each query sequence. Each bar represents a hit in the database, and the color of the bar deepens when the hit is stronger. Hovering over the bar displays the sequence ID and E-value for the hit, and clicking on the bar displays detailed alignment information for the hit.

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2. Length distribution of hits
This is a histogram of the length of similar sequences in the database. Hovering over the histogram will display the ID, E-value, and length of the sequence.

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3. Summary table of hits
This is a list view of BLAST hit results, including sequence name, query coverage, total score, E-value, and identity. Clicking on a sequence name will lead you to a detailed alignment of that hit.

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4. Details of each hit
Check the "Select" box so that users can download only the results of the selected records in Section D. Clicking on "Sequence" will display the detailed sequence. Clicking on "FASTA" and "Alignment" will download the results for fasta format sequence and the alignment result, respectively. At the bottom is an overview of the graphs and alignments for this hit.

blastresultE4

3-2 JBrowse

TCMPG provides JBrowse to visualize genomic data, and there are many tutorials online on how to use JBrowse, such as JBrowse Documentation. We have provided two tracks (reference sequence and genome annotation) in JBrowse.


3-3 SSR Finder

The SSR Finder page has two parts, the first part is the Web SSR Finder, which identifies SSRs based on the sequences provided by the users, and the second part is all SSRs identified in the CDS and whole genome sequences of all genomes in this database.


3-3-1 Perform


The following shows the interface to run SSR Finder, users only need three steps to perform an SSR search.

ssr1

Step 1. Upload the query sequences
To perform the SSR Finder, users need to click on the "Choose File" button and then upload a sequence file (<10Mb).
Note:Sequences file can only be in fasta format. Learn more about fasta format here.
Step 2. Change parameters
After uploading sequences, users can change one or more parameters to search.
Step 3. Perform SSR Finder
When the above steps are completed, users can click the "start" button to start an analysis.

After the analysis is done, it will lead users to the result page automatically.


3-3-2 Result


Below is an example of the SSR Finder result page. The results include the number, type, sequences, size, and start and end positions of the SSRs in the query sequence.

ssrresult

3-4 Synteny Viewer

Displays all the syntenic blocks between two selected genomes in a dotplot and karyotype figure.

3-4-1 Perform


To get the synteny block information, users need to select a query genome (① in the figure below) and a target genome (② in the figure below). Then click on the "Submit" button (③ in the figure below) to get the results.

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3-4-2 Result


Below is an example of the Synteny Viewer result page.

The first graph is a dotplot of the collinear genes between the two selected genomes.

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The second picture is the karyotype of the two genomes, and the collinear genes are connected by Bezier curves.

synresult2

3-5 HmmSearch

TCMPG provides HmmSearch to identify protein domain.


3-5-1 Perform


The following shows the interface to run HmmSearch, users only need four steps to perform an HmmSearch.

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Step 1. Select or upload a profile-HMM
To perform the HmmSearch, users need to select a profile-HMM name from the drop down box or click on the "Choose File" button to upload a profile-HMM file (<10Mb).
Note:The profile-HMM file can only be in HMMER3 format. Learn more about HMMER3 format here.
Step 2. Select or upload a sequence database
After selecting or uploading the profile-HMM, users need to select or upload a sequence database.
Note:The sequences file can only be protein sequence in fasta format. Learn more about fasta format here.
Step 3. Set cut-offs
Users can change the reporting and inclusion thresholds to control which hits are reported in the results.
Step 4. Perform HmmSearch
When the above steps are completed, users can click the "Submit" button to start an analysis.

After the analysis is done, it will lead users to the result page automatically.


3-5-2 Result


In the results, we show the domain hits table. There is one line for each domain. There may be more than one domain per sequence. The domain table has 18 fields followed by a text target sequence description. Users can mouse over the information icon on the right side of the field to view the full field description.

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3-6 Heatmap

TCMPG provides Heatmap to create heatmap.


3-6-1 Perform


The following shows the interface to run Heatmap, users only need three steps to perform Heatmap.

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Step 1. Upload an expression matrix file
To perform the Heatmap, users need to upload an expression matrix file (<10Mb).
X-axis and Y-axis grouping information file are optional. Note:The file must be tab-delimited txt file. Step 2. Setting the plotting parameters
After uploading the expression matrix file, users need to setting the plotting parameters.
Step 3. Perform Heatmap
When the above steps are completed, users can click the "Submit" button to plotting a heatmap.

When the heatmap is finished, it will be displayed in the top right corner of the page.


3-6-2 Result


Users can download the obtained heatmap by clicking on the 'Download' button below the image.

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3-7 Primer3

TCMPG provides a simple and reliable way for users to better automate the design of primers.


3-7-1 Perform


The following shows the interface to run Primer3, users only need three steps to perform Primer3.

heatmap1

Step 1. Input the query sequence
To perform the Primer3, users need to input the query sequence.
Step 2. Setting the parameters
After input the query sequence, users need to setting the general primer picking conditions.
Step 3. Perform Primer3
When the above steps are completed, users can click the "Submit" button to design PCR primers from the input sequence.

After the analysis is done, the results are displayed in a table at the bottom of the page.


3-7-2 Result


Users can export the results of interest.

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3-8 PlantiSMASH

TCMPG identified known clusters of secondary metabolic genes in all available chromosome-level genomes using plantiSMASH. Users can click "View details" to view all biosynthetic gene clusters in the genome of interest.


3-9 CRISPRCasFinder

TCMPG uses CRISPRCasFinder to identify CRISPR arrays and Cas proteins in user submitted sequences.


3-9-1 Perform


The following shows the interface to run CRISPRCasFinder, users only need three steps to perform CRISPRCasFinder.

heatmap1

Step 1. Input the query sequence
To perform the CRISPRCasFinder, users need to input the query sequence.
Step 2. Setting the parameters
After input the query sequence, users need to setting the advanced parameters.
Step 3. Perform CRISPRCasFinder
When the above steps are completed, users can click the "Submit" button to identify CRISPR arrays and Cas proteins from the input sequence.

After the analysis is done, the results are displayed at the bottom of the page.


3-9-2 Result


Users can view all CRISPR sequences and Cas proteins identified.

hmm2

4 Visualization


To better show what is inside TCMPG, we have created some data visualizations. Users can view them through the visualization buttons on the toolbar. It will serve as a starting point for users to explore the database. Above each chart is a short description of how to use the visualization tools.