January 1, 2007 (Vol. 27, No. 1)
URL:
http://bioinf.scri.sari.ac.uk/cgi-bin/plant_snorna/home
Rating:
Strong Points: snoRNA data
Weak Points: Needs more breadth
Summary:
Small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA) molecules are involved in processing and modifying other RNAs. These include small nuclear spliceosomal RNAs and ribosomal RNAs too. The title of this informative site misleads a bit in that it only covers plant snoRNAs. How difficult would that have been to include in the title? snoRNA includes a database of Arabidopsis snoRNAs, which are available as a list in a table and in sequence formats. I was disappointed at the lack of search or alignment options at the site, but it was noted that the Arabidopsis data was used to identify about 250 snoRNA genes from non-Arabidopsis species. A set of key references is available but it seemed rather short to me. Last, the site links to a list of snoRNA genes in other plant species. While there is some useful information here, I’d say the pages overall are a bit of a disappointment. Perhaps things will improve in the future.
