59 research outputs found
An open and transparent process to select ELIXIR Node Services as implemented by ELIXIR-UK
ELIXIR is the European infrastructure established specifically for the sharing and sustainability of life science data. To provide up-to-date resources and services, ELIXIR needs to undergo a continuous process of refreshing the services provided by its national Nodes. Here we present the approach taken by ELIXIR-UK to address the advice by the ELIXIR Scientific Advisory Board that Nodes need to develop “mechanisms to ensure that each Node continues to be representative of the Bioinformatics efforts within the country”. ELIXIR-UK put in place an open and transparent process to identify potential ELIXIR resources within the UK during late 2015 and early to mid-2016. Areas of strategic strength were identified and Expressions of Interest in these priority areas were requested from the UK community. A set of criteria were established, in discussion with the ELIXIR Hub, and prospective ELIXIR-UK resources were assessed by an independent committee set up by the Node for this purpose. Of 19 resources considered, 14 were judged to be immediately ready to be included in the UK ELIXIR Node’s portfolio. A further five were placed on the Node’s roadmap for future consideration for inclusion. ELIXIR-UK expects to repeat this process regularly to ensure its portfolio continues to reflect its community’s strengths
Evolution of Assortative Mating in a Population Expressing Dominance
In this article, we study the influence of dominance on the evolution of
assortative mating. We perform a population-genetic analysis of a two-locus
two-allele model. We consider a quantitative trait that is under a mixture
of frequency-independent stabilizing selection and density- and frequency-dependent
selection caused by intraspecific competition for a continuum of resources.
The trait is determined by a single (ecological) locus and expresses intermediate
dominance. The second (modifier) locus determines the degree of assortative
mating, which is expressed in females only. Assortative mating is based on
similarities in the quantitative trait (‘magic trait’ model).
Analytical conditions for the invasion of assortment modifiers are derived
in the limit of weak selection and weak assortment. For the full model, extensive
numerical iterations are performed to study the global dynamics. This allows
us to gain a better understanding of the interaction of the different selective
forces. Remarkably, depending on the size of modifier effects, dominance can
have different effects on the evolution of assortment. We show that dominance
hinders the evolution of assortment if modifier effects are small, but promotes
it if modifier effects are large. These findings differ from those in previous
work based on adaptive dynamics
The SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics' resources: focus on curated databases
The SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (www.isb-sib.ch) provides world-class bioinformatics databases, software tools, services and training to the international life science community in academia and industry. These solutions allow life scientists to turn the exponentially growing amount of data into knowledge. Here, we provide an overview of SIB's resources and competence areas, with a strong focus on curated databases and SIB's most popular and widely used resources. In particular, SIB's Bioinformatics resource portal ExPASy features over 150 resources, including UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot, ENZYME, PROSITE, neXtProt, STRING, UniCarbKB, SugarBindDB, SwissRegulon, EPD, arrayMap, Bgee, SWISS-MODEL Repository, OMA, OrthoDB and other databases, which are briefly described in this article
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