BACTIBASE: A new web-accessible database for bacteriocin characterization

Background. Bacteriocins are very diverse group of antimicrobial peptides produced by a wide range of bacteria and known for their inhibitory activity against various human and animal pathogens. Although many bacteriocins are now well characterized, much information is still missing or is unavailable to potential users. The assembly of such information in one central resource such as a database would therefore be of great benefit to the exploitation of these bioactive molecules in the present context of increasing antibiotic resistance and natural bio-preservation need. Description. In the present paper, we present the development of a new and original database BACTIBASE that contains calculated or predicted physicochemical properties of 123 bacteriocins produced by both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The information in this database is very easy to extract and allows rapid prediction of relationships structure/function and target organisms of these peptides and therefore better exploitation of their biological activity in both the medical and food sectors. Conclusion. The BACTIBASE database is freely available at http://bactibase.pfba- lab.org, web-based platform enabling easy retrieval, via various filters, of sets of bacteriocins that will enable detailed analysis of a number of microbiological and physicochemical data. © 2007 Hammami et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.