LukProt

LukProt provides a database of eukaryotic predicted protein sequences focused on undersampled animal taxa, particularly nonbilaterians, to support investigations of animal origins and early animal evolution.

Key Features:

• Taxonomic Coverage: Contains protein sequences from 216 additional animals beyond the parent EukProt database, obtained mostly from genomic, transcriptomic, and metagenomic studies.
• Taxonomic Grouping Scheme: Implements a taxogroup classification suitable for studying early animal evolution.
• Naming Conventions: Adopts the EukProt naming conventions for consistency with the parent database.
• BLAST Server: Provides remote sequence search capability without requiring local download.
• Versioned Releases: Major updates synchronize with new EukProt versions, and all releases are permanently stored on Zenodo.

Scientific Applications:

• Animal Evolution Research: Addresses the absence of a comprehensive sequence resource for nonbilaterian animals by consolidating scattered publicly available data with proper metadata.
• Comparative Genomics: Serves as an extension of EukProt for evolutionary biologists and the broader scientific community investigating eukaryotic diversity.

Methodology:

Protein sequences are obtained mostly from genomic, transcriptomic, and metagenomic studies and are organized according to a taxonomic grouping scheme suitable for studying early animal evolution.