EcMLST: an online database for multi locus sequence typing of pathogenic Escherichia coli
In order to provide a portable and accurate typing system for the unambiguous characterization of pathogenic Escherichia coli isolates to the scientific community, we have constructed an online database for multilocus sequence typing of pathogenic E. coli (EcMLST) using current Internet and open source technology. The system consists of an XML specification of the E. coli MLST system, and a set of peri modules defining the database tables and generating dynamic Web pages for querying the database. It is implemented on a Sun server running the Apache web server. The underlying tier is the MySQL database system. Currently, the database contains nucleotide sequence data and annotated allelic profile data of 15 house-keeping genes for 600 representative E. coli isolates. Access to the central-held typing and epidemiology data is supported by parametric searching, full-text searching, as well as query interface links to the reference center of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC, http://www.shigatox.net/stec). EcMLST has been used by public health laboratories and researchers for epidemiology and evolutionary studies. The system can be accessed at http://www.shigatox.net/mlst.