JASPAR is an open access and widely-used database of curated transcription factor (TF)-DNA binding profiles, involving TFs from multiple species in six taxonomic groups. With about 10,000 users per month, the database serves as a critical resource for the research community, particularly for those researchers studying the regulation of gene transcription.
The new paper, published last week in the journal Nucleic Acids Research, represents the 8th release of JASPAR since its initial creation in 2004. The updated release includes a range of improved features, including 245 new TF binding profiles (so-called position frequency matrices, or PFMs), a new collection of unvalidated profiles to engage the community of users in the curation of TF-binding profiles, as well as a question and answer forum that will help to facilitate improved communication between JASPAR curators and the user community.
The article represents ongoing collaborative work between the Mathelier Group at NCMM and researchers at institutions from Canada, Denmark, UK, France, and Switzerland.
The Mathelier group's contribution was primarily driven by Jaime Castro-Mondragón and Aziz Khan, who are co-first authors on the paper along with Oriol Fornes from the BC Children's Hospital Research Institute in Vancouver, Canada.
You can read the new article in full on the Nucleic Acids Research website.
More information on the importance of building high quality databases for TF-DNA binding interactions can be found in a previous news item about JASPAR on the NCMM website.
You can read more about the Mathelier Group and their research interests on the NCMM research groups page, as well as in our researcher profile article with Dr Mathelier.