The National Microbial Pathogen Data Resource was one of the eight Bioinformatics Resource Centers

Bioinformatics Resource Centers

The Bioinformatics Resource Centers are a group of five Internet-based research centers established in 2004 and funded by NIAID The BRCs were formed in response to the threats posed by emerging and re-emerging pathogens, particularly CDC Category A, B, and C pathogens, and their potential use in...

 funded by the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIAID a component of the National Institutes of Health

National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...

 (NIH), which is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services

United States Department of Health and Human Services

The United States Department of Health and Human Services is a Cabinet department of the United States government with the goal of protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is "Improving the health, safety, and well-being of America"...

.
The NMPDR was funded for five years from 2004 through a grant to co-PI's Rick Stevens from the Computation Institute at the University of Chicago, and Ross Overbeek

Ross Overbeek

Ross A. Overbeek is an American computer scientist with a long tenure at the Argonne National Laboratory. He has made important contributions to mathematical logic and genomics, as well as programming, particularly in database theory and the programming language Prolog.- Early life :He grew up in...

 at the Fellowship for the Interpretation of Genomes.

The NMPDR was initially tasked with annotating and curating the genomes of five pathogenic species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of Bacteria

Bacteria

Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...

, (Campylobacter

Campylobacter

Campylobacter is a genus of bacteria that are Gram-negative, spiral, and microaerophilic. Motile, with either unipolar or bipolar flagella, the organisms have a characteristic spiral/corkscrew appearance and are oxidase-positive. Campylobacter jejuni is now recognized as one of the main causes...

, Listeria, Staphylococcus

Staphylococcus

Staphylococcus is a genus of Gram-positive bacteria. Under the microscope they appear round , and form in grape-like clusters....

, Streptococcus

Streptococcus

Streptococcus is a genus of spherical Gram-positive bacteria belonging to the phylum Firmicutes and the lactic acid bacteria group. Cellular division occurs along a single axis in these bacteria, and thus they grow in chains or pairs, hence the name — from Greek στρεπτος streptos, meaning...

, and Vibrio

Vibrio

Vibrio is a genus of Gram-negative bacteria possessing a curved rod shape, several species of which can cause foodborne infection, usually associated with eating undercooked seafood. Typically found in saltwater, Vibrio are facultative anaerobes that test positive for oxidase and do not form...

). However, after four years, the team were asked to also oversee the curation and annotation of the genomes of seven additional bacterial species (Chlamydia

Chlamydia (bacterium)

Chlamydia is a genus of bacteria that are obligate intracellular parasites. Chlamydia infections are the most common bacterial sexually transmitted infections in humans and are the leading cause of infectious blindness worldwide....

, Chlamydophila

Chlamydophila

Chlamydophila is a bacterial genus belonging to the family Chlamydiaceae, order Chlamydiales, class/phylum Chlamydiae.-Taxonomy:Chlamydophila was recognized in 1999, with six species in Chlamydophila and three in the original genus, Chlamydia...

, Haemophilus

Haemophilus

Not to be confused with Haemophilia.Haemophilus is a genus of Gram-negative, pleomorphic, coccobacilli bacteria belonging to the Pasteurellaceae family. While Haemophilus bacteria are typically small coccobacilli, they are categorized as pleomorphic bacteria because of the wide range of shapes they...

, Mycoplasma

Mycoplasma

Mycoplasma refers to a genus of bacteria that lack a cell wall. Without a cell wall, they are unaffected by many common antibiotics such as penicillin or other beta-lactam antibiotics that target cell wall synthesis. They can be parasitic or saprotrophic. Several species are pathogenic in humans,...

, Neisseria

Neisseria

The Neisseria is a large genus of commensal bacteria that colonize the mucosal surfaces of many animals. Of the 11 species that colonize humans, only two are pathogens. N. meningitidis and N. gonorrhoeae often cause asymptomatic infections, a commensal-like behavior...

, Treponema

Treponema

Treponema is a bacterial genus. The major species is Treponema pallidum, whose subspecies are responsible for diseases such as syphilis and yaws.The species Treponema hyodysenteriae and Treponema innocens have been reclassified into Serpula....

, and Ureaplasma

Ureaplasma

Ureaplasma is a genus of bacteria belonging to the family Mycoplasmataceae. As the name imples, ureaplasma is urease positive.It includes the species:* Ureaplasma canigenitalium* Ureaplasma cati* Ureaplasma diversum...

).

The flagship website, the National Microbial Pathogen Data Resource provides curated annotations in an environment for comparative analysis of genomes and biological subsystems.

In addition, the NMPDR team have also developed the Rapid Annotation using Subsystems Technology Server (RAST) for annotating and curating complete microbial genomes and the Metagenomics RAST for annotating metagenomes.

Note to NMPDR Users

As of January 2010, the bacterial organism originally covered by NMPDR under the BRC program have been transferred to PATRIC

PATRIC

PATRIC, the Pathosystems Resource Integration Center, is one of the four Bioinformatics Resource Centers funded by the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIAID a component of the National Institutes of Health , which is an agency of the United States Department of Health and...

the Pathosystems Resource Integration Center.