MicrobialScope: an integrated genomic resource with rich annotations across bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses
Microorganisms, including bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses, are the most taxonomically diverse and ecologically dominant life forms on Earth, playing critical roles in ecosystems, human health, and industrial applications. While existing microbial databases such as BV-BRC and IMG archive both monoisolate and metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) across domains, challenges remain in standardized, multi-level annotations and interactive tools for all microbial groups. Here, we present MicrobialScope (https://microbial.deepomics.org/), a comprehensive microbial genomic platform that integrates large-scale genome collections, multilevel annotations, and interactive visualizations. MicrobialScope harbors 2 411 503 bacterial, 24 472 archaeal, 20 203 fungal, and 188 267 viral genomes derived from both monoisolate assemblies and MAGs. Integrating 15 state-of-the-art bioinformatics tools and 10 specialized databases, MicrobialScope provides extensive annotations encompassing basic genomic features, genomic element prediction (e.g., genes, tRNAs, tmRNAs, CRISPR-Cas and anti-CRISPR elements, secondary metabolite biosynthetic clusters, signal peptides, and transmembrane proteins), and functional and structural annotations. This includes 1 072 114 935 proteins with diverse annotations, 24 640 186 tRNAs and tmRNAs, 140 888 CRISPR-Cas systems, 173 256 anti-CRISPR elements, 105 121 secondary metabolite biosynthetic clusters, 13 235 096 signal peptides, and 50 811 729 transmembrane proteins. In addition, MicrobialScope offers unrestricted access to all data resources, interactive visualization tools, and built-in online analytical modules for intuitive exploration and comparative analysis. With its extensive genome collection, comprehensive annotations, and user-friendly interface, MicrobialScope serves as a scalable platform to advance genome research across diverse microbial domains.
Authors
- Yinhu Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6378-6571)
- Shuai Cheng Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6246-6349)
- Yu Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7569-9472)
- Xikang Feng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4029-3795)
- Jieyi Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-2793-2031)
- Xuhua Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-9159-7624)
- Shuo Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-0296-0183)
Institutions
- City University of Hong Kong (HK)
- Northwestern Polytechnical University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- City University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen Research Institute (CN)
- Research & Development Institute (US)
- Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (CN)
- University of Hong Kong (HK)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nucleic Acids Research
- Published
- 2025-11-20
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkaf1234
- Primary Topic
- Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
- Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute of Brain Science
- Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province