• http://camera.calit2.net

Metagenomics — the genomic analysis of microbial species isolated directly from the environment — is progressing so rapidly that there is an urgent need for web resources to manage the data that are produced. A new web site, CAMERA (Community Cyberinfrastructure for Advanced Microbial Ecology Research and Analysis), has now been launched to fulfil this need.

CAMERA, a US$24.5 million project funded by the Moore Foundation, is a user-driven site aimed at providing the scientific community with metagenomics data and the advanced bioinformatics tools to analyse them.

The web site is freely accessible to registered users who accept the Convention on Biological Diversity, which states that countries have sovereign rights over their biological resources, and acknowledge the potential restriction on the commercial use of the data.

The CAMERA database differs from other repositories of genomic data because it is designed to contain a whole extra set of information — metadata — detailing for each sample any associated information, such as location, time of collection and the chemical-physical properties of the environment. A handy link allows the export of metadata in Excel format.

At present, CAMERA houses metadata collected by four different projects, such as the recent Global Ocean Sampling Expedition of the J. Craig Venter Institute, which is analysing microbial communities collected every 200 miles around the globe. Additional data provided by the metagenomics community will be routinely uploaded into the virtual repository along with project details and links to publications.

The web site also lists the latest news and upcoming events in the field, and hosts forum discussions that will help the database team to make CAMERA as responsive as possible to the needs of the community.