March 15, 2006 (Vol. 26, No. 6)
URL:
http://compositdb.ucdavis.edu
Rating:
Strong Points: Descriptions, database access
Weak Points: A bit unfocused
Summary:
I always get tickled when I find a website I like and then, when I look at who organized it, discover it was done by a colleague of mine. Such was the case with Compositdb, organized by Steve Knapp here at OSU and Richard Michelmore at U.C. Davis. For the uninitiated, Compositae comprises a broad family of plants that spans from sunflowers to lettuce. The site provides a good description of this family, as well as links to databases for lettuce (lettdb), sunflower (sundb), lettuce cultivar, and sungen, which I believe is a genetic marker database for sunflowers, but wasn’t labeled as such on the site. Additionally, there is contact info for germplasm resource centers, several unrelated plant genomic databases, software of note, and conference/meeting info. An interesting site on interesting agriculture products.
