MAPKDB: A MAP kinase database for signal transduction element identification.

The mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade is a central signal transduction platform, ubiquitous within the eukaryotes. MAPKs function prominently in different essential cellular processes such as proliferation, differentiation, survival and defense to pathogen attack. The 32 MAPKs of Glycine max (soybean) have been examined functionally to determine if they have any defense role, focusing in on infection by the plant-parasitic nematode Heterodera glycines. Of these 32 MAPKs, 9 have been shown to have a defense function. Hence, the Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase database (MAPKDB) has been developed to assist in such research. The MAPKDB allows users to search the annotations with sequence data for G. max transgenic lines undergoing overexpression (OE) or RNA interference (RNAi) of its defense map kinases. These defense MAPKs include map kinase 2 (MPK2), MPK3, MPK4, MPK5, MPK6, MPK13, MPK16, and MPK20. The database also contains data analysis information for each sample that helps to detect the differential expression of the genes identified within these samples. The database also contains data for each sample that helps to detect the differential expression of the genes identified within these samples. The database has been developed to manage G. max MAPK sequences with sequence alignment for 18 different samples along with two additional OE and RNAi control experiments for a total of 20.